Increase of Visceral Fat and Adrenal Gland Volume in Women with Depression: Preliminary Results of a Morphometric Mri Study

Abstract

The increase of adrenal volume and VAT and the correlation of BDI with VAT in the upper abdomen support the hypothesis of long-term production of stress hormones in depression. This study is a further step toward describing morphologic substrates of depression in endocrine organs.

Biological Basis of Depression in Adults with Diabetes

“…This same group performed a prospective trial involving 48 adolescents without psychiatric illness and 48 adolescents with parental history of depression and found that elevated nocturnal urine free cortisol at baseline was associated with development of depression at follow-up [5]. A recent study also confirmed the presence of greater adrenal gland volume, measured by MRI, in 10 depressed women compared with 12 healthy women [6].…”

“…1 Outline of potential biologic mechanism by which depression predisposes toward development of diabetes. HPA-hypothalamicpituitary-adrenal; SNS-sympathetic nervous system Rao et al [5] ↑ Urine free cortisol associated with development of depression Ludescher et al [6] ↑ Adrenal gland volume in depressed…”

Brief review: Glucocorticoid excretion in obesity

“…In light of the close association of adrenal gland size with body surface area [13] and body mass index [14], it appears to be appropriate to normalize urinary glucocorticoid metabolite excretion rates for measures of body size. Correction for differences in lean body mass by calculating the ratio of daily glucocorticoid excretion rates to urine creatinine, an established surrogate parameter of muscle mass, resulted in similar cortisol production rates in obese and non-obese adult subjects [9,15].…”

Adrenal gland volume, intra-abdominal and pericardial adipose tissue in major depressive disorder

“…In detail, enlarged adrenal gland volume has been found in three case-control studies (Kessing et al, 2011), and most although not all cross-sectional studies have reported increased volumes of intra-abdominal adipose tissue in patients with major depression using imaging technology (Eskandari et al, 2005;Everson-Rose et al, 2009;Greggersen et al, 2011;Kim et al, 2011a,b;Krishnamurthy et al, 2008;Ludescher et al, 2008;Weber-Hamann et al, 2002;Williams et al, 2009). One study reported increased PAT in depression so far .…”

“…Ludescher et al (2008) studied 10 patients with MDD using MRI and found increased volumes of IAT in depression, and a correlation with adrenal volume. In a study with 22 postmenopausal women with major depressive disorder (MDD) using MRI Weber-Hamann et al (2002) found elevated volumes of IAT only in the hypercortisolemic subgroup.…”