“Enhanced Amygdala-Cingulate Connectivity Associates With Better Mood in Both Healthy and Depressive Individuals After Sleep Deprivation”, Ya Chai, Philip Gehrman, Meichen Yu, Tianxin Mao, Yao Deng, Joy Rao, Hui Shi, Peng Quan, Jing Xu, Xiaocui Zhang, Hui Lei, Zhuo Fang, Sihua Xu, Elaine Boland, Jennifer R. Goldschmied, Holly Barilla, Namni Goel, Mathias Basner, Michael E. Thase, Yvette I. Sheline, David F. Dinges, John A. Detre, Xiaochu Zhang, Hengyi Rao2023-06-20 (, )⁠:

[media] Sleep loss is a public health epidemic which impairs mood and well-being of billions of people over the world. However, sleep deprivation [wake therapy] also induces a rapid and effective mood improvement in a subset of patients with depressive disorder. The amygdala is a pivotal brain region affected by depression. Here, we show that one night of total sleep deprivation enhanced amygdala connectivity to the anterior cingulate cortex which correlated with better mood in both healthy and depressed individuals. This study highlights the key role of amygdala-cingulate circuit in bad mood regulation in both healthy and clinical populations. Our findings might have implications for the development of fast and unique antidepressant interventions.

[data] Sleep loss robustly disrupts mood and emotion regulation in healthy individuals but can have a transient antidepressant effect in a subset of patients with depression. The neural mechanisms underlying this paradoxical effect remain unclear. Previous studies suggest that the amygdala and dorsal nexus (DN) play key roles in depressive mood regulation.

Here, we used functional MRI to examine associations between amygdala & DN-related resting-state connectivity alterations and mood changes after one night of total sleep deprivation (TSD) in both healthy adults and patients with major depressive disorder using strictly controlled in-laboratory studies. Behavioral data showed that TSD increased negative mood in healthy participants but reduced depressive symptoms in 43% of patients.

Imaging data showed that TSD enhanced both amygdala & DN-related connectivity in healthy participants. Moreover, enhanced amygdala connectivity to the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) after TSD associated with better mood in healthy participants and antidepressant effects in depressed patients.

These findings support the key role of the amygdala-cingulate circuit in mood regulation in both healthy and depressed populations and suggest that rapid antidepressant treatment may target the enhancement of amygdala-ACC connectivity.