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• Clinical Article •
Local neural activity and functional network alterations in adolescents with subclinical depression: A resting-state fMRI study
LAN Zhongli  JIANG Jinghua  ZHANG Chengfeng  GAN Jiefeng  CHEN Jun 

DOI:10.12015/issn.1674-8034.2026.02.002.


[Abstract] Objective To investigate the characteristics of brain functional abnormalities in adolescents with subclinical depression (SD) using amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) and regional homogeneity (ReHo) by resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI).Materials and Methods Eighty-five adolescents were enrolled, including 62 in the SD group and 23 healthy controls (HC). Whole-brain ALFF and ReHo maps were computed and compared between groups. The overlapping regions of significant ALFF and ReHo alterations were defined as composite regions of interest for whole-brain functional connectivity (FC) analysis. Correlation analysis was performed using the Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS) scores.Results Compared with the HC group, the SD group showed significantly decreased ALFF in the anterior cingulate cortex and subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (t = -5.456, voxel-level P < 0.005, cluster-level P < 0.05) and ReHo (t = -4.724, voxel-level P < 0.005, cluster-level P < 0.05), and significantly increased ALFF in the left anterior cerebellum (t = 4.277, voxel-level P < 0.005, cluster-level P < 0.05). FC analysis using the overlapping regions of positive ALFF and ReHo results as composite seeds revealed reduced connectivity with the medial prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, rectus gyrus, olfactory cortex, and caudate nucleus (t = -4.099, voxel-level P < 0.005, cluster-level P < 0.05). No significant correlation was found between SDS scores and brain functional indicators (all P > 0.05).Conclusions Adolescents with SD already exhibit significant functional abnormalities in the sgACC and left anterior cerebellum, offering new neuroimaging clues for the early identification of depression risk and for understanding its underlying mechanisms.
[Keywords] subclinical depression；adolescents；resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging；magnetic resonance imaging；amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation；regional homogeneity；functional connectivity

LAN Zhongli1   JIANG Jinghua2   ZHANG Chengfeng2   GAN Jiefeng2   CHEN Jun2, 3*  

1 The Second Clinical Medical College, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou 510405, China

2 Department of Radiology, Zhuhai Hospital of Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Zhuhai 519015, China

3 Department of Medical Imaging, Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou 510120, China

Corresponding author: CHEN J, E-mail: junesums@163.com

Conflicts of interest   None.

Received  2025-10-27
Accepted  2026-01-05
DOI: 10.12015/issn.1674-8034.2026.02.002
DOI:10.12015/issn.1674-8034.2026.02.002.

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