Basal ganglia morphology links the metabolic syndrome and depressive symptoms

Abstract

The metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a clustering of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular risk factors that are often comorbid with depressive symptoms. Individual components of the MetS also covary with the morphology of basal ganglia regions that are altered by depression. However, it remains unknown whether the covariation between the MetS and depressive symptomatology can be accounted for in part by morphological changes in the basal ganglia. Accordingly, we tested the hypothesis that increased depressive symptoms among individuals with the MetS might be statistically mediated by reduced grey matter volume in basal ganglia regions. The presence of the MetS was determined in 147 middle-aged adults using the criteria of the National Cholesterol Education Program, Adult Treatment Panel III. Basal ganglia volumes were determined on an a priori basis by automated segmentation of high-resolution magnetic resonance images. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire. Even after controlling for demographic and other confounding factors, having the MetS and meeting more MetS criteria covaried with reduced globus pallidus volume. Meeting more MetS criteria and reduced pallidal volume were also related to depressive symptoms. Moreover, the MetS-depression association was statistically mediated by pallidal volume. In summary, reduced globus pallidus volume is a neural correlate of the MetS that may partly account for its association with depressive symptoms.

Reconstructing the blood metabolome and genotype using long-range chromatin interactions

“…The tissue SNP-gene mappings identified in this study are consistent with known tissue-metabolite relationships. For example, previous studies support our observation of cholesterol-associated regulatory interactions in the basal ganglia [ 44 , 45 ], skeletal muscle [ 46 , 47 ], and skin [ 48 , 49 ]. Similarly, our observation of disproportionately high metabolism-associated eQTL interactions per RNA-Seq sample in the cerebellum and testis agrees with known metabolic dysfunction in these tissues ( e.g.…”

Physical Activity, Fitness, Glucose Homeostasis, and Brain Morphology in Twins

“…Reduced basal ganglia volume was associated with metabolic syndrome in a recent study by Onyewuenyi et al (27), who analyzed GM region of interest volumes of basal ganglia in participants of similar age to that of our group. A reduced basal ganglia volume (specifically pallidal) was associated with greater odds having metabolic syndrome (27). In addition, a large study on elderly persons showed that their walking speed decreased progressively with the decreasing volume of the basal ganglia (8).…”

Anxiety, depression, impulsivity, and brain structure in children and adolescents

“…This finding could be due to symptoms of anhedonia, which have been linked with structural and functional differences in the pallidum ( Dennison et al, 2016 ). Studies of adults have tended to link MDD with smaller pallidal volume ( Kempton et al, 2011 ; Onyewuenyi et al, 2014 ), although anhedonia has been associated with larger pallidal volume ( Wang et al, 2014 ).…”