Investig Magn Reson Imaging.  2015 Mar;19(1):10-18. 10.13104/imri.2015.19.1.10.

Regional Gray Matter Volume Reduction Associated with Major Depressive Disorder: A Voxel-Based Morphometry

• Tae WS

• KMID: 2175572
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.13104/imri.2015.19.1.10

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
The association between the low emotional regulation and the brain structural change of major depressive disorder (MDD) has been proposed, but the voxel-based morphometry (VBM) studies on female MDD are rare. The purpose of the present study was to show the regional volume changes of gray matter (GM) in female patients with MDD by optimized VBM.
METHODS
To control subjects homogeneity, twenty female MDD patients and age, sex matched 21 normal controls were included for the VBM analysis. To identify the change of regional gray matter volume (GMV), the optimized VBM was performed with T1 MRIs. The amounts of gray/white matter and intracranial cavity volumes (ICV) were measured. The analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) and partial correlation analyses covariate with age and ICV were applied for VBM.
RESULTS
The age and ICV distributions were similar between the two groups. In the ANCOVA, the total GMV of MDD was smaller than that of normal controls. In the VBM, regional GMV was relatively decreased in the limbic system (amygdalae, ambient gyri, hippocampi heads, subiculum, posterior parahippocampal gyri, pulvinar nuclei, dorsal posterior cingulate gyri, and left pregenual cingulate gyrus). The lingual gyri, short insular gyri, right fusiform gyrus, and right inferior frontal gyrus were also showed decreased regional GMV.
CONCLUSION
The results of this study indicate that the female MDD is mainly associated with the structural deficits of the limbic system and limbic system related cortices, which were known to the center of emotions.

Keyword

Magnetic resonance imaging; Major depressive disorder; Voxel-based morphometry; Limbic system

MeSH Terms

Brain
Depressive Disorder, Major*
Female
Head
Hippocampus
Humans
Limbic System
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Pulvinar

Figure

• 

  Fig. 1 Decreased regional gray matter volume in the female patients with major depressive disorder. The VBM results of 3-dimentional rendering (a) and 2-dimentional (b) overlaid views show the relatively decreased regional gray matter volume (GMV) of the MDD patients. The regional GMV of MDD patients were mainly decreased in the limbic areas of amygdalae, gyri ambient, hippocampal heads, subiculum, posterior parahippocampal gyri, pulvinar nuclei, and left cingulate gyrus. T-maps were overlaid to averaged T1 template. The significance level was set to FDR P < 0.05 and the extent threshold was set to kE > 200 voxels (200 mm3). Color bars represent T values and all images are presented in neurological views.

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