Study of white matter in adolescent patients with depression by MR-diffusion tensor imaging

VernacularTitle:青少年抑郁症患者脑白质的弥散张量成像研究
Author: Ning MAO ; Bin WANG ; Cong XU ; Quanyuan LIU ; Guangbin WANG
Publication Type:Journal Article
Keywords: Adolescent depression; Diffusion tensor imaging; White matter
From: The Journal of Practical Medicine 2014;(23):3759-3762
CountryChina
Language:Chinese
Abstract: Objective To investigate the changes of the white matter in adolescent depression by using the method of tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS). Methods We employed TBSS to examine WM microstructure in 35 treatment-naive adolescents with clinical depression and in 40 matched controls. By using the TBSS, we compared the difference of fractional anisotropy (FA), axial diffusivity (AD), radial diffusivity (RD) and mean diffusivity (MD) between theadolescent patients with depression and the controls. Results Our analysis revealed the abnormal WM microstructures in the clinically depressed adolescents. The whole-brain analysis revealed that patients, with lower FA values in the body of the corpus callosum (CC) (P < 0.01), had elevated RD and MD (P < 0.01), and preserved AD (P > 0.05). The FA values in the body of the corpus callosum was negatively correlated with the severity of depression (P < 0.01). Conclusions Our findings suggest that WM abnormalities are involved in the path-physiology of depression. Importantly , our findings show that these WM abnormalities present early in the course of the disorder.