Chen X, Lu B, Li HX, Li XY, Wang YW, Castellanos FX, Cao LP, Chen NX, Chen W, Cheng YQ, Cui SX, Deng ZY, Fang YR, Gong QY, Guo WB, Hu ZJ, Kuang L, Li BJ, Li L, Li T, Lian T, Liao YF, Liu YS, Liu ZN, Lu JP, Luo QH, Meng HQ, Peng DH, Qiu J, Shen YD, Si TM, Tang YQ, Wang CY, Wang F, Wang HN, Wang K, Wang X, Wang Y, Wang ZH, Wu XP, Xie CM, Xie GR, Xie P, Xu XF, Yang H, Yang J, Yao SQ, Yu YQ, Yuan YG, Zhang KR, Zhang W, Zhang ZJ, Zhu JJ, Zuo XN, Zhao JP, Zang YF, and Yan CG
Despite a growing neuroimaging literature on the pathophysiology of major depressive disorder (MDD), reproducible findings are lacking, probably reflecting mostly small sample sizes and heterogeneity in analytic approaches. To address these issues, the Depression Imaging REsearch ConsorTium (DIRECT) was launched. The REST-meta-MDD project, pooling 2428 functional brain images processed with a standardized pipeline across all participating sites, has been the first effort from DIRECT. In this review, we present an overview of the motivations, rationale, and principal findings of the studies so far from the REST-meta-MDD project. Findings from the first round of analyses of the pooled repository have included alterations in functional connectivity within the default mode network, in whole-brain topological properties, in dynamic features, and in functional lateralization. These well-powered exploratory observations have also provided the basis for future longitudinal hypothesis-driven research. Following these fruitful explorations, DIRECT has proceeded to its second stage of data sharing that seeks to examine ethnicity in brain alterations in MDD by extending the exclusive Chinese original sample to other ethnic groups through international collaborations. A state-of-the-art, surface-based preprocessing pipeline has also been introduced to improve sensitivity. Functional images from patients with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia will be included to identify shared and unique abnormalities across diagnosis boundaries. In addition, large-scale longitudinal studies targeting brain network alterations following antidepressant treatment, aggregation of diffusion tensor images, and the development of functional magnetic resonance imaging-guided neuromodulation approaches are underway. Through these endeavours, we hope to accelerate the translation of functional neuroimaging findings to clinical use, such as evaluating longitudinal effects of antidepressant medications and developing individualized neuromodulation targets, while building an open repository for the scientific community., Competing Interests: One of the authors, Dr Qi-Yong Gong, is also the editor-in-chief of Psychoradiology. He was blinded from reviewing or making decisions on the manuscript., (© The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of West China School of Medicine/West China Hospital (WCSM/WCH) of Sichuan University.)