TY - JOUR
T1 - Abnormal body perception and neural activity in the insula in depression
T2 - An fMRI study of the depressed "material me"
AU - Wiebking, Christine
AU - Bauer, André
AU - De Greck, Moritz
AU - Duncan, Niall W.
AU - Tempelmann, Claus
AU - Northoff, Georg
PY - 2010
Y1 - 2010
N2 - Objectives. In addition to affective-cognitive symptoms, patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) suffer from somato-vegetative symptoms, suggesting abnormal interoceptive awareness of their "material me". While recent imaging studies have extensively investigated affective-cognitive symptoms in MDD, the neural correlates of somato-vegetative symptoms and abnormal interoception remain unclear. Since the "material me" has been especially associated with the anterior insula in healthy subjects, we hypothesized abnormalities in this region during interoceptive awareness in MDD. Methods. We therefore investigated behavioural and neural correlates of interoception in healthy and depressed subjects using the Body Perception Questionnaire (BPQ) and a well established heartbeat perception task in fMRI. Results. MDD patients showed significantly higher scores in the BPQ and reduced neural activity during rest periods, particularly in the bilateral anterior insula. In contrast to healthy subjects, BPQ scores no longer correlated with activity during rest periods in the anterior insula. Both BPQ scores and left anterior insula signal changes correlated with depression severity. Conclusions. We demonstrate for the first time abnormal body perception and altered activity in the insula during rest in MDD. Our results suggest that these behavioural and neural abnormalities are closely related to these patients' somato-vegetative abnormalities and their abnormal "material me".
AB - Objectives. In addition to affective-cognitive symptoms, patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) suffer from somato-vegetative symptoms, suggesting abnormal interoceptive awareness of their "material me". While recent imaging studies have extensively investigated affective-cognitive symptoms in MDD, the neural correlates of somato-vegetative symptoms and abnormal interoception remain unclear. Since the "material me" has been especially associated with the anterior insula in healthy subjects, we hypothesized abnormalities in this region during interoceptive awareness in MDD. Methods. We therefore investigated behavioural and neural correlates of interoception in healthy and depressed subjects using the Body Perception Questionnaire (BPQ) and a well established heartbeat perception task in fMRI. Results. MDD patients showed significantly higher scores in the BPQ and reduced neural activity during rest periods, particularly in the bilateral anterior insula. In contrast to healthy subjects, BPQ scores no longer correlated with activity during rest periods in the anterior insula. Both BPQ scores and left anterior insula signal changes correlated with depression severity. Conclusions. We demonstrate for the first time abnormal body perception and altered activity in the insula during rest in MDD. Our results suggest that these behavioural and neural abnormalities are closely related to these patients' somato-vegetative abnormalities and their abnormal "material me".
KW - Awareness
KW - Functional magnetic resonance imaging
KW - Insular cortex
KW - Major depressive disorder
KW - Mind-body relations
KW - Self concept
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M3 - Article
C2 - 20146653
AN - SCOPUS:77953629843
VL - 11
SP - 538
EP - 549
JO - World Journal of Biological Psychiatry
JF - World Journal of Biological Psychiatry
SN - 1562-2975
IS - 3
ER -