Frontal white matter anisotropy and symptom severity of late-life depression: a magnetic resonance diffusion tensor imaging study

Nobuhara, Kenji; Okugawa, Gaku; Sugimoto, Tatsuya; Minami, Toyohiko; Tamagaki, Chiharu; Takase, Katsunori; Saito, Yukiko; Sawada, Satoshi; Kinoshita, Toshihiko

doi:10.1136/jnnp.2004.055129

Cited by 168 publications

(123 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…In the context of elderly depression, the present findings of anterior and posterior callosal abnormalities in patients vs controls may be consistent with one previous study using magnetization transfer imaging, which reported significantly lower magnetization ratios in the genu and splenium of the corpus callosum (Kumar et al, 2004). On the other hand, two diffusion tensor imaging studies have not found evidence of callosal abnormalities (Bae et al, 2006;Nobuhara et al, 2006) in depressed elders. In addition, one report employing Witelson's segmentation criteria of corpus callosum areas obtained from midsagittal MRI section in a mixed elderly population did not detect an association between callosal atrophy and mood disturbances (Ryberg et al, 2007).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Mapping Callosal Morphology in Early- and Late-Onset Elderly Depression: An Index of Distinct Changes in Cortical Connectivity

Ballmaier

Kumar

Elderkin‐Thompson

et al. 2007

Neuropsychopharmacol

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There is some evidence of corpus callosum abnormalities in elderly depression, but it is not known whether these deficits are regionspecific or differ based on age at onset of depression. Twenty-four patients with early-onset depression (mean age ¼ 68.00, SD75.83), 22 patients with late-onset depression (mean age ¼ 74.50, SD78.09) and 34 elderly control subjects (mean age ¼ 72.38; SD76.93) were studied. Using 3D MRI data, novel mesh-based geometrical modeling methods were applied to compare the midsagittal thickness of the corpus callosum at high spatial resolution between groups. Neuropsychological correlates of midsagittal callosal area differences were additionally investigated in a subsample of subjects. Depressed patients exhibited significant callosal thinning in the genu and splenium compared to controls. Significant callosal thinning was restricted to the genu in early-onset patients, but patients with late-onset depression exhibited significant callosal thinning in both the genu and splenium relative to controls. The splenium of the corpus callosum was also significantly thinner in subjects with late-vs early-onset depression. Genu and splenium midsagittal areas significantly correlated with memory and attention functioning among late-onset depressed patients, but not early-onset depressed patients or controls. Circumscribed structural alterations in callosal morphology may distinguish late-from early-onset depression in the elderly. These findings suggest distinct abnormalities of cortical connectivity in late-and early-onset elderly depression with possible influence on the course of illness. Patients with a late onset of depression may be at higher risk of illness progression and eventually dementia conversion than earlyonset depression, with potentially important implications for research and therapy.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Mapping Callosal Morphology in Early- and Late-Onset Elderly Depression: An Index of Distinct Changes in Cortical Connectivity

Ballmaier

Kumar

Elderkin‐Thompson

et al. 2007

Neuropsychopharmacol

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“…Fractional anisotropy (FA) quantifies the directionally preferential water molecule diffusivity, and is usually used to assess overall white matter integrity. Using voxel-or region-based analyses, several DTI studies have revealed frontal and temporal white matter abnormalities in late-life depression (Nobuhara et al, 2006;Shimony et al, 2009), as well as in non-geriatric MDD (Wu et al, 2011;Ma et al, 2007;Zhu et al, 2011). For example, lower FA has been reported in frontal, temporal, and parietal regions for first-episode, treatment-naive younger adults with MDD (Ma et al, 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantitative Tract-Specific Measures of Uncinate and Cingulum in Major Depression Using Diffusion Tensor Imaging

Zhang

Leow

Ajilore

et al. 2011

Neuropsychopharmacol

111

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Previous findings suggested the role of the prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, and cingulate gyrus in major depressive disorders (MDD), but the white matter microstructural abnormalities of the fibers connecting these brain structures are not known. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that white matter abnormalities are present in association fibers of the uncinate fasciculus (UF) and cingulum bundle (CB) among MDD subjects. A total of 21 MDD subjects aged between 30 and 65 years and 21 age-matched healthy controls (HC) were recruited. All subjects were right-handed and without history of diabetes or other cardiac diseases. We extracted quantitative tract-specific measures based on diffusion tensor imaging tractography to examine both diffusivity and geometric properties of the UF and CB. Significantly decreased fractional anisotropy (FA) and increased radial diffusivity of the right UF were observed in MDD patients compared with HC (po0.05), while their geometric characteristics remained relatively unchanged. Among MDD subjects, depression severity had a significant negative correlation with normalized number of fibers (NNF) in the right UF (r ¼ À0.53, p ¼ 0.02). We also found significant age effect (oldoyoung) in HC group and laterality effect (L4R) in both groups in the FA measure of the CB. Our study demonstrates novel findings of white matter microstructural abnormalities of the right UF in MDD. In the MDD group, the severity of depression is associated with reduced NNF in the right UF. These findings have implications for both clinical manifestations of depression as well as its pathophysiology.

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“…Even with these limitations, DTI studies in elderly depressed patients have demonstrated white matter abnormalities in the frontal and temporal lobes. 90,121 In a large study comparing 106 depressed elderly patients and 84 age-matched healthy controls, depression was associated with a significantly lower fractional anisotropy in white matter lateral to the right ACC, bilateral superior frontal gyri, and left middle frontal gyrus, supporting the hypothesis of altered connectivity in brain regions implicated in depression. 5 A recent DTI analysis of treatment-naïve young women (mean age 28.1 years, range 20-41 years) with major depression compared with healthy controls found significantly lower fractional anisotropy in the white matter of the superior and middle frontal gyri, regions traversed by fibers of the dorsolateral prefrontal circuit, suggesting that prefrontal white matter abnormalities are present early in the course of major depressive disorder.…”

Section: Diffusion Tensor Imagingmentioning

confidence: 92%

Biological basis for the surgical treatment of depression

Abosch¹,

Cosgrove

2008

FOC

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An estimated 20% of patients with major depression are refractory to existing therapies. The purpose of this review is to provide a theoretical and neuroscientific framework in which to interpret new work in the field of surgical treatment for depression. This review focuses on existing clinical and imaging data, current disease models, and results of recent case reports and patient series that together may inform the construction of appropriate clinical trials for the surgical treatment of refractory depression.

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Frontal white matter anisotropy and symptom severity of late-life depression: a magnetic resonance diffusion tensor imaging study

Cited by 168 publications

References 17 publications

Mapping Callosal Morphology in Early- and Late-Onset Elderly Depression: An Index of Distinct Changes in Cortical Connectivity

Mapping Callosal Morphology in Early- and Late-Onset Elderly Depression: An Index of Distinct Changes in Cortical Connectivity

Quantitative Tract-Specific Measures of Uncinate and Cingulum in Major Depression Using Diffusion Tensor Imaging

Biological basis for the surgical treatment of depression

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