Abnormal functional connectivity of the posterior cingulate cortex is associated with depressive symptoms in patients with Alzheimer’s disease

BACKGROUND Depressive symptoms are significant and very common psychiatric complications in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD), which can aggravate the decline in social function. However, changes in the functional connectivity (FC) of the brain in AD patients with depressive symptoms (D-AD) remain unclear. OBJECTIVE To investigate whether any differences exist in the FC of the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) between D-AD patients and non-depressed AD patients (nD-AD). MATERIALS AND METHODS We recruited 15 D-AD patients and 17 age-, sex-, educational level-, and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE)-matched nD-AD patients to undergo tests using the Neuropsychiatric Inventory, Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, and 3.0T resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. Bilateral PCC were selected as the regions of interest and between-group differences in the PCC FC network were assessed using Student's t-test. RESULTS Compared with the nD-AD group, D-AD patients showed increased PCC FC in the right amygdala, right parahippocampus, right superior temporal pole, right middle temporal lobe, right middle temporal pole, and right hippocampus (AlphaSim correction; P<0.05). In the nD-AD group, MMSE scores were positively correlated with PCC FC in the right superior temporal pole and right hippocampus (false discovery rate corrected; P<0.05). CONCLUSION Differences were detected in PCC FC between nD-AD and D-AD patients, which may be related to depressive symptoms. Our study provides a significant enhancement to our understanding of the functional mechanisms underlying D-AD.