Molecular basis underlying default mode network functional abnormalities in postpartum depression with and without anxiety

Abstract

AbstractAlthough Postpartum depression (PPD) and PPD with anxiety (PPD‐A) have been well characterized as functional disruptions within or between multiple brain systems, however, how to quantitatively delineate brain functional system irregularity and the molecular basis of functional abnormalities in PPD and PPD‐A remains unclear. Here, brain sample entropy (SampEn), resting‐state functional connectivity (RSFC), transcriptomic and neurotransmitter density data were used to investigate brain functional system irregularity, functional connectivity abnormalities and associated molecular basis for PPD and PPD‐A. PPD‐A exhibited higher SampEn in medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) and posterior cingulate cortex (PPC) than healthy postnatal women (HPW) and PPD while PPD showed lower SampEn in PPC compared to HPW and PPD‐A. The functional connectivity analysis with MPFC and PPC as seed areas revealed decreased functional couplings between PCC and paracentral lobule and between MPFC and angular gyrus in PPD compared to both PPD‐A and HPW. Moreover, abnormal SampEn and functional connectivity were associated with estrogenic level and clinical symptoms load. Importantly, spatial association analyses between functional changes and transcriptome and neurotransmitter density maps revealed that these functional changes were primarily associated with synaptic signaling, neuron projection, neurotransmitter level regulation, amino acid metabolism, cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) signaling pathways, and neurotransmitters of 5‐hydroxytryptamine (5‐HT), norepinephrine, glutamate, dopamine and so on. These results reveal abnormal brain entropy and functional connectivities primarily in default mode network (DMN) and link these changes to transcriptome and neurotransmitters to establish the molecular basis for PPD and PPD‐A for the first time. Our findings highlight the important role of DMN in neuropathology of PPD and PPD‐A.