Morphometric changes of gray matter in Parkinson's disease with depression: A voxel‐based morphometry study

Abstract

Abstract:The origin of the high rate of depression in idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD) is unknown. We applied voxelbased morphometry (VBM), as a sensitive tool in detection of gray matter MR density alterations, to find differences in depressed and nondepressed PD patients. Patients with idiopathic PD were classified into depressed (DPD) and nondepressed (NDPD) groups based on the Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS). Subsequently, a group comparisons were performed between depressed PD (n ϭ 23), nondepressed PD (n ϭ 27) and normal healthy controls (NC, n ϭ 16). There was no difference in gray matter density comparing healthy controls to any PD groups. However, when NDPD and DPD cohorts were compared, density alteration of the bilateral orbitofrontal, bilateral rectal gyrus, and also the right superior temporal pole was detected in the depressed subgroup. Exploratory analyses revealed an inverse correlation of MADRS scores and severity of VBM alteration in these regions beside the right medial temporal gyrus, anterior and medial cingular gyrus, and parahippocampal gyrus. These results suggest that depression in PD is related to gray matter decrease in the bilateral orbitofrontal and right temporal regions as well as the limbic system.

Depression, anxiety, and apathy in Parkinson's disease: insights from neuroimaging studies

“…Of the 38 studies on depression, 33 reported findings from one single imaging modality: 19 used either PET [11, 12, 13,15, 16, 17, 18, 19] or SPECT 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30 techniques, four used T1‐weighted imaging 31, 32, 33, three used DTI 34, 35, 36, six used resting state functional MRI (RS‐FMRI) 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42 and two used TCS methods 43, 44. The remaining four of the 38 studies reported findings from structural T1‐weighted imaging plus another imaging method, including PET 14, DTI 45, task FMRI 46 and RS‐FMRI 47, respectively.…”

Cognitive and neuroanatomical correlates of neuropsychiatric symptoms in Parkinson's disease: A systematic review

“…We found 11 imaging studies that have explored the neural bases of PD patients with and without depression using different imaging techniques [91][92][93][94][95][96][97][98][99][100][101] (See table 4). Among these studies, there is only one study that found no differences in brain regions between PD patients with and without depression [97] (In this study patients had mild to severe disease stages, average disease duration was 4.9 years and age at onset was 62.6).…”

“…A PET study found that PD patients with depression had decreased cerebral blood flow in the frontal cortex and in the anterior cingulate cortex when compared with PD patients without depression and controls [99]. Two VBM studies reported that depressed PD patients had lower grey matter density in the frontal, temporal cortex [92] (In this study patients had moderate disease stage, their average disease duration was 9.9 years and they were treated with Levodopa), in the posterior cingulate cortex and the hippocampus [94] (This study included patients with mild to moderate disease stages, average disease duration was 6 years and they were treated with Levodopa). Sheng et al [100] found that functional connectivity was decreased within the prefrontal-limbic system and increased in the prefrontal cortex and lingual gyrus in PD patients with depression.…”

“…In summary, two VBM studies have explored the neural correlates of depression in PD patients [92,94] In addition, the earlier studies did not covariate for total intracranial volume, which might have contributed to the results of grey matter reduction. Furthermore, the authors relied on reports of previous episodes of other neuropsychiatric symptoms in order to exclude patients who had these symptoms.…”

Structural Brain Sex Differences in Parkinson’s Disease: A Voxel-Based Morphometry Study

“…Moreover, a positive correlation between the anterior cingulate cortex and the bilateral hippocampus and the amygdala was detected in previous literature, which was not found in the current study. A positive correlation between the bilateral orbitofrontal cortex and GM changes in PD group was also found, while strong negative correlations were found between the right medial temporal gyrus, the right Para hippocampal gyrus, the medial and anterior cingular cortex, and the right cerebellum [87,90]. However, the loss of tissue volume in the hippocampus and amygdala is not linked directly to PD [87].…”