Gray Matter Abnormalities in Non-comorbid Medication-naive Patients with Major Depressive Disorder or Social Anxiety Disorder

Abstract

BackgroundAn overlap of clinical symptoms between major depressive disorder (MDD) and social anxiety disorder (SAD) suggests that the two disorders exhibit similar brain mechanisms. However, few studies have directly compared the brain structures of the two disorders. The aim of this study was to assess the gray matter volume (GMV) and cortical thickness alterations between non-comorbid medication-naive MDD patients and SAD patients.MethodsHigh-resolution T1-weighted images were acquired from 37 non-comorbid MDD patients, 24 non-comorbid SAD patients and 41 healthy controls (HCs). Voxel-based morphometry analysis of the GMV (corrected with a false discovery rate of p < 0.001) and vertex-based analysis of cortical thickness (corrected with a clusterwise probability of p < 0.001) were performed, and group differences were compared by ANOVA followed by post hoc tests.OutcomesRelative to the HCs, both the MDD patients and SAD patients showed the following results: GMV reductions in the bilateral orbital frontal cortex (OFC), putamen, and thalamus; cortical thickening in the bilateral medial prefrontal cortex, posterior dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, insular cortex, left temporal pole, and right superior parietal cortex; and cortical thinning in the left lateral OFC and bilateral rostral middle frontal cortex. In addition, MDD patients specifically showed a greater thickness in the left fusiform gyrus and right lateral occipital cortex and a thinner thickness in the bilateral lingual and left cuneus. SAD patients specifically showed a thinner cortical thickness in the right precentral cortex.InterpretationOur results indicate that MDD and SAD share common patterns of gray matter abnormalities in the orbitofrontal-striatal-thalamic circuit, salience network and dorsal attention network. These consistent structural differences in the two patient groups may contribute to the broad spectrum of emotional, cognitive and behavioral disturbances observed in MDD patients and SAD patients. In addition, we found disorder-specific involvement of the visual processing regions in MDD and the precentral cortex in SAD. These findings provide new evidence regarding the shared and specific neuropathological mechanisms that underlie MDD and SAD.

Cortical thickness in migraine: a coordinate-based meta-analysis

“…An extensive literature has shown that a wide range of psychiatric disorders, especially anxiety and depression, can accompany migraine [4,[47][48][49]. Previous studies revealed cortical abnormalities in depression [35,50,51] and anxiety disorders [52][53][54][55]. However, these psychiatric problems are often under-diagnosed and have not been thoroughly assessed in CTh studies in migraine.…”

Subcortical brain volumes, cortical thickness and cortical surface area in families genetically enriched for social anxiety disorder – A multiplex multigenerational neuroimaging study

“…Based on previous findings, and as summarized in Bas-Hoogendam et al (2016) [ 48 ], there are two important reasons to do so. To start, differences in GM between SAD-patients and healthy controls have been reported for a number of subcortical, frontal, temporal and parietal regions [ 49 , 50 , 59 , 60 , [51] , [52] , [53] , [54] , [55] , [56] , [57] , [58] ] – see Table 1 for an overview of MRI-studies on GM in SAD. Furthermore, changes in brain structure were shown to be associated with clinical characteristics [ 49 , 50 , [54] , [55] , [56] , [57] , [58] , 60 , 61 ], while treatment-related changes in brain structure in SAD patients have also been described [ [62] , [63] , [64] ].…”

“… n.a. Talati et al, 2015 [ 62 ] Whole brain VBM (SPM) 14 SAD - treatment effect = = - After treatment - After treatment - After treatment Tükel et al, 2015 [ 56 ] Whole brain VBM (SPM) 27 SAD vs 27 HC = = = = = Månnson et al, 2016, 2017 [ 195 , 196 ] ROIs (amygdala, ACC, insula, hippocampus) as well as whole brain VBM (SPM) 13 SAD - treatment effect - After treatment = = = = Steiger et al, 2016 [ 63 ] Whole brain cortical volume & CT using Freesurfer 33 SAD -treatment effect = = = = = Bas-Hoogendam et al, 2017 [ 60 ] Whole brain VBM (FSL) 178 SAD vs 213 HC = = = + = Zhao et al, 2017 [ 59 ] Whole brain VBM (SPM) & whole brain CT using Freesurfer 24 SAD vs 41 HC (and 37 MDD) = = − − = Publication Frontal regions Parietal regions MPFC DLPFC VLPFC OFC PMC ACC PCC Par PC Potts et al, 1994 [ 193 ] n.a. n.a.…”

“… Bas-Hoogendam et al, 2017 [ 60 ] = = = = n.a. Zhao et al, 2017 [ 59 ] + + = = n.a. =: no difference; +: increase; −: decrease; n.a.…”

Neurostructural Heterogeneity in Youth with Internalizing Symptoms

“…8 Emerging evidence from epidemiology, genetics, and clinical neuroimaging often does not support the current diagnoses codified in the DSM. [9][10][11] One alternative is to evaluate dimensions of symptoms that cross diagnostic boundaries. 12 However, dimensional models based on symptoms only do not take into account the neurobiological mechanisms underlying psychiatric symptoms.…”