Gender Differences in Brain Region Activation During Verbal Fluency Task As Detected by FNIRS in Patients with Depression

Background: Gender plays a role in the mechanisms of depression, but fewer studies have focused on gender differences in the abnormal activation of brain regions when patients perform specific cognitive tasks.

Methods: A total of 110 major depressive disorder (MDD) patients and 106 healthy controls were recruited. The relative change in oxygen-haemoglobin (oxy-Hb) concentration during the verbal fluency task were measured by a 52-channel near-infra-red spectroscopy (NIRS) system. Differences in brain region activation between patients and healthy controls and between genders of depression patients were compared.

Results: MDD patients demonstrated significantly decreased [oxy-Hb] changes in the right inferior frontal gyrus ( = 0.043) compared to healthy controls. A marked increase in leftward functional language lateralisation in the inferior frontal gyrus was observed in the MDD group in contrast to the HC group ( = 0.039). Furthermore, female patients in the MDD group exhibited significant reductions in [oxy-Hb] changes in the right frontal region (specifically, the superior and middle frontal gyrus;  = 0.037) compared with male patients.

Conclusions: Gender impacts depression-related brain activation during cognitive tasks, potentially influencing depression's pathogenesis.