Caudate Nucleus Volumes and Genetic Determinants of Homocysteine Metabolism in the Prediction of Psychomotor Speed in Older Persons With Depression

Abstract

Psychomotor slowing, a key clinical and cognitive phenomenon in older persons with depression, is predicted by reduced caudate nucleus volumes and genetic determinants of homocysteine metabolism.

Grey matter volume increase following electroconvulsive therapy in patients with late life depression: a longitudinal MRI study

“…This finding is interesting in light of the observa tion that psychomotor speed in patients with LLD is predicted by reduced caudate nucleus volume. 55 The caudate volume reduction might be reversed following ECT accord ing to our data. However, it remains to be elucidated whether volume increase of the caudate nucleus is directly or indirectly associated with psychomotor changes.…”

User-guided 3D active contour segmentation of anatomical structures: Significantly improved efficiency and reliability

“…Other studies report higher interrater reliability for the caudate, such as 0.86 in Naismith et al (2002), 0.94 in Keshavan et al (1998), 0.955 in Hokama et al (1995) and 0.98 in Levitt et al (2002). The reliability of lateral ventricle segmentation tends to be high, with Blatter et al (1995), for example, reporting intraclass correlations of 0.99.…”

Do the Genetic or Environmental Determinants of Anxiety and Depression Change with Age? A Longitudinal Study of Australian Twins

“…Structural changes on MRI in patients with latelife depression are themselves associated with psychomotor change, neuropsychological impairment, vascular risk factors, impaired treatment response and poorer prognosis (Hickie et al, 1995;Hickie et al, 1997;Naismith et al, 2002;Alexopoulos et al, 2002). Hence, a new illness entity of "vascular depression" has been proposed (Alexopoulos et al, 1997a;Alexopoulos et al, 1997b;Krishnan et al, 1997;Krishnan, 2002) and is thought to be particularly prevalent among persons who develop depression for the first time after 50 years of age.…”

“…Circulating homocysteine levels are subject to both genetic (e.g., variations in the activity of the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase [MTHFR] enzyme) and environmental determinants (e.g., dietary folate). Our group has recently demonstrated associations between a higher prevalence of the homozygous or heterozygous forms of the C677T mutation of the MTHFR genotype, late onset depression and structural brain changes in persons with depression Naismith et al, 2002). Interest in the association between ApoE ε4 and late onset depression has been strong, but the results are equivocal.…”