Hemodynamic analysis of the frontal cortex using multi-task fNIRS in major depressive disorder

Appropriate task selection is the key to fNIRS-based major depressive disorder (MDD) diagnosis and treatment; however, there exists no unified rule for task selection, which limits its clinical application. Four tasks were employed to investigate the hemodynamic characteristics of MDD during motor, emotional, cognitive, and combinational tasks. A total of 69 subjects were studied: 50 with MDD and 19 healthy controls. The integral value of oxy-hemoglobin and the asymmetric characteristics of the bilateral frontal lobe were used to demonstrate the hemodynamic changes in MDD during different tasks. A detailed analysis and comparison among different tasks were conducted. Compared with deoxy-hemoglobin (deoxy-Hb), oxy-Hb was more significant to differentiate between MDD subjects and healthy controls. In subjects with MDD, lower activation of the frontal lobe and smaller integral values of oxy-Hb were observed. In most task paradigms, MDD subjects and healthy controls exhibited diametrically opposite left-right frontal asymmetry. For the integral value of oxy-Hb and the asymmetric characteristics of the bilateral frontal lobe, the differences between MDD subjects and healthy controls under the combinational task were more significant than that under the single tasks. Brain fatigue patterns over time and their effect on the hemodynamic analysis of MDD should be studied further. The difference in hemodynamic characteristics between MDD subjects and healthy controls is closely related to the choice of task, and the combinational task showed better discrimination than the single tasks. It provides guidance for the appropriate task design for MDD in clinics. •Four tasks were employed to investigate the hemodynamic characteristics of MDD.•The integral value and the asymmetric characteristics were used to demonstrate the hemodynamic differences.•It was verified that MDD and healthy controls have more obvious hemodynamic differences under the combinational task.