Effects of polygenic risk for major depressive disorder and childhood emotional neglect on cortical blood flow complexity in young depression patients.

Abstract

Major depressive disorder (MDD) exhibits a moderate degree of heritability and shares common influences with early adverse life events, as well as being associated with inconsistent changes in cerebral blood flow (CBF). Here, we investigated whether MDD polygenic risk score (PRS) and emotional neglect influences alterations in CBF. We collected blood and ASL from MDD patients. Emotional neglect (EN) assessment was performed using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire. We calculated PRS for MDD based the MDD GWAS result in Asian populations. Subsequently, we examined the interaction between PRS for MDD and EN on CBF. Finally, 174 participated in statistical analysis. After adjusting for confounding factors, there was a significant main effect of PRS on left dorsolateral superior frontal gyrus, while the main effect of EN was not significantly (P < 0.001, GRF corrected). And significant interactive effect was found between PRS of MDD and EN on precuneus CBF (P < 0.001, GRF corrected). In MDD, high polygenic risk independently influenced changes in left dorsolateral superior frontal gyrus CBF, while EN plays a role in individuals with a higher genetic risk for MDD. Our study indicates the need to consider the combined effects of genetic risk and early adverse events on alterations in brain structure in the occurrence of MDD.