Major depressive disorder and white matter abnormalities: A diffusion tensor imaging study with tract-based spatial statistics |
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Authors: | Tuula Kieseppä Mervi Eerola Riitta Mäntylä Tuomas Neuvonen Veli-Pekka Poutanen Katariina Luoma Annamari Tuulio-Henriksson Pekka Jylhä Outi Mantere Tarja Melartin Heikki Rytsälä Maria Vuorilehto Erkki Isometsä |
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Institution: | 1. Center for the Study of Applied Psychology, Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science of Guangdong Province, School of Psychology, Institute for Brain Research and Rehabilitation (IBRR), South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, China;2. Medical Imaging Center, First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University, Guangzhou 510630, China;3. Clinical Experimental Center, First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University, Guangzhou 510630, China;4. Department of Psychiatry, First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University, Guangzhou 510630, China |
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Abstract: | BackgroundA few diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) studies have shown abnormalities in areas of white matter tracts involved in mood regulation in geriatric depressive patients, using a region-of-interest technique. A voxel-based morphometry DTI study of young depressive patients reported similar results. In this study, we explored the structure of the white matter of the whole brain with DTI in middle-aged major depressive disorder (MDD) patients, using novel tract-based spatial statistics.MethodsSixteen MDD patients and 20 controls underwent DTI. An automated tract-based spatial method (TBSS) was used to analyze the scans.ResultsCompared with controls, the MDD patients showed a trend for lower values of fractional anisotropy (FA) in the left sagittal stratum, and suggestive decreased FA in the right cingulate cortex and posterior body of corpus callosum. Regressing out the duration and severity of disorder in the model did not change the finding in the sagittal stratum, but dissipated the decrease of FA in latter regions.LimitationsPossibly by reason of a relatively small study sample for a TBSS, the results are suggestive, and should be replicated in further studies.ConclusionsA novel observer-independent DTI method showed decreased FA in the middle-aged MDD patients in white matter regions that have previously connected to the emotional regulation. Lower FA might imply underlying structural abnormalities that contribute to the dysfunction detected in the limbic-cortical network of depressive patients. |
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