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The abnormal reward network associated with insomnia severity and depression in chronic insomnia disorder

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Abstract

Previous research has shown that acute sleep deprivation can influence the reward networks. However, it is unclear whether and how the intrinsic reward network is altered in chronic insomnia disorder (CID). In the present study, we aimed to investigate whether the reward network is altered in patients with CID using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data. Forty-two patients with CID and 33 healthy controls (HCs) were enrolled and underwent resting-state fMRI. Nucleus accumbens (NAc) - based functional connectivity (NAFC) was evaluated to explore the differences in the reward network between the CID and HC groups. Pearson correlation analysis was used to evaluate the clinical significance of altered NAFC networks. Compared to those in the HC group, increased NAFC was found in the salience and limbic networks, while decreased NAFC was found in the default mode network (DMN) and within the reward circuit in patients with CID. In addition, decreased FC between the NAc and DMN was associated with insomnia severity, while NAFC within the reward network was associated with depression symptoms in patients with CID. These findings showed that the reward network is dysfunctional and associated with depression symptom in patients with CID. Future studies of CID should consider both insomnia and depression symptoms to disentangle the role of insomnia and depression in the relationship under study.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the programs of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81303057, 81503670, 81373560, and 81603682); The Science and Technology Department of Sichuan Province (2018JY0249 and 2020YJ0197). The Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine “Xinglin Scholar” discipline talent research and improvement plan (QNXZ2018001). The Chengdu Medical Research Project (2019115). We thank the professional English language editing services from Editage.

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  1. Liang Gong and Siyi Yu contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurology, Chengdu Second People’s Hospital, Chengdu, 610017, Sichuan, China

    Liang Gong, Ronghua Xu, Duan Liu & Bei Zhang

  2. Department of Acupuncture & Tuina, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, 610075, Sichuan, China

    Siyi Yu & Youping Hu

  3. Department of Medical Imaging, Jinling Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210002, Jiangsu, China

    Xijian Dai

  4. Department of Pain Management, Sichuan Integrative Medicine, Sichuan, 610041, Chengdu, China

    Zhengyan Wang

  5. Hospital of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, 610072, Sichuan, China

    Bohua Yan & Fen Feng

  6. The Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, 510120, Guangdong, China

    Yu Kui

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  1. Liang Gong
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Gong, L., Yu, S., Xu, R. et al. The abnormal reward network associated with insomnia severity and depression in chronic insomnia disorder. Brain Imaging and Behavior 15, 1033–1042 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11682-020-00310-w

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