The underlying mechanisms of bright light therapy (BLT) in the prevention of individuals with subthreshold depression symptoms are yet to be elucidated. The goal of the study was to assess the correlation between midbrain monoamine-producing nuclei treatment-related functional connectivity (FC) changes and depressive symptom improvements in subthreshold depression. This double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial was conducted between March 2020 and June 2022. A total of 74 young adults with subthreshold depression were randomly assigned to receive 8-week BLT (N = 38) or placebo (N = 36). Depression severity was measured using the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS). The participants underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging at baseline and after treatment. The dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN), ventral tegmental area (VTA), and habenula seed-based whole-brain FC were analyzed. A multivariate regression model examined whether baseline brain FC was associated with changes in scores on HDRS during BLT treatment. BLT group displayed significantly decreased HDRS scores from pre- to posttreatment compared to the placebo group. BLT increased the FC between the DRN and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and between the left VTA and right superior frontal gyrus (SFG). Altered VTA-SFG connectivity was associated with HDRS changes in the BLT group. Moreover, the baseline FC between DRN and mPFC could predict HDRS changes in BLT. These results suggested that BLT improves depressive symptoms and increases midbrain monoamine-producing nuclei and frontal cortex connectivity in subthreshold depression, which raises the possibility that pretreatment FC of DRN-mPFC could be used as a biomarker for improved BLT treatment in depression. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

中文翻译：

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阈下抑郁症强光治疗后中脑和额叶皮层之间的功能连接增强：一项随机临床试验。

亮光疗法（BLT）预防阈下抑郁症状的潜在机制尚未阐明。该研究的目的是评估中脑单胺生成核治疗相关的功能连接（FC）变化与阈下抑郁症的抑郁症状改善之间的相关性。这项双盲、随机、安慰剂对照临床试验于 2020 年 3 月至 2022 年 6 月期间进行。共有 74 名患有阈下抑郁症的年轻人被随机分配接受为期 8 周的 BLT（N = 38）或安慰剂（N = 36）。 ）。使用汉密尔顿抑郁评定量表（HDRS）测量抑郁严重程度。参与者在基线和治疗后接受静息态功能磁共振成像。分析了中缝背核 (DRN)、腹侧被盖区 (VTA) 和基于缰核种子的全脑 FC。多变量回归模型检查基线脑 FC 是否与 BLT 治疗期间 HDRS 评分的变化相关。与安慰剂组相比，BLT 组在治疗前后的 HDRS 评分显着降低。BLT 增加了 DRN 和内侧前额叶皮质 (mPFC) 之间以及左侧 VTA 和右侧额上回 (SFG) 之间的 FC。BLT 组中 VTA-SFG 连接的改变与 HDRS 变化相关。此外，DRN 和 mPFC 之间的基线 FC 可以预测 BLT 中的 HDRS 变化。这些结果表明，BLT 可改善抑郁症状，并增加阈下抑郁症中脑单胺生成核和额叶皮层的连接性，这提出了 DRN-mPFC 预处理 FC 可用作改善抑郁症 BLT 治疗的生物标志物的可能性。（PsycInfo 数据库记录 (c) 2023 APA，保留所有权利）。