Impact of early and recent stress on white matter microstructure in major depressive disorder

Perspectives in affective disorders: Clocks and sleep

“…Synchronous function among neural networks is ensured by myelination of white matter tracts (Lu et al., ), and in the case of mood disorders and of schizophrenia, abnormalities of diffusion‐tensor imaging measures of white matter integrity have been described in cortico‐limbic networks, and associated with core psychopathological symptoms, including cognitive deficits and affective instability (Benedetti et al., ; Johnston et al., ; Poletti et al., ). These structural abnormalities are well evident in patients soon at the beginning of illness, reflect altered developmental trajectories of anterior grey and white matter during adolescence (Najt et al., ), and are negatively influenced both by common genetic variation underlying risk for mood disorders (Whalley et al., ) and by exposure to adverse childhood experiences (Benedetti, Bollettini, et al., ; Poletti et al., ). It is suggested that a reduced integrity of white matter tracts could underpin dysfunctions in networks implicated in the generation and control of affect and cognition in neuropsychiatric disorders, reflecting the interaction of genetic and environmental factors (Benedetti & Bollettini, ).…”

Mental health services for mood disorder outpatients in Milan during COVID-19 outbreak: The experience of the health care providers at San Raffaele hospital

“…Quarantine is an unpleasant experience for those who undergo it and boredom can occasionally create dramatic effects, sometimes leading to suicide ( Barbisch et al., 2015 ). If domestic lockdown and social isolation have proved to be quite effective as physical containment for infections, it might prove risky from a psychological point of view due to the onset of distressing feelings such as uncertainty, fear, and despair ( Poletti et al., 2018 ). If environmental stressors may have negative consequences on individuals without a psychiatric history, their effect on patients with pre-existing mental disorders may become even more detrimental, eventually resulting in relapses or worsening of their mental condition ( Hawryluck et al., 2004 ).…”

Fractional anisotropy and peripheral cytokine concentrations in outpatients with depressive episode: a diffusion tensor imaging observational study

“…In participants with depression, for instance, reduced FA values were observed for various WM fiber tissues [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18]. Most of these studies included participants with first-episode depression [19][20][21], with acute exacerbation of depression [11,13], drug-naïve patients [17][18][19], and participants in inpatient or outpatient treatment [15,16,[22][23][24][25]. Although an increasing body of literature supports reduced FA levels in depression, the pathophysiology of WM structural changes in depression is not clearly understood.…”