title: Correlation between cerebral blood flow and items of the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression in antidepressant-naive patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The purpose of this study was to correlate the basal cerebral blood flow (CBF) in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) with the score for each of the 21 questions in the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD), in order to determine the cerebral regions associated with each item.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fourteen antidepressant-naive patients with unipolar depression (DSM-IV criteria for MDD) participated in this study with a HRSD score of >/=20 points. CBF images obtained by SPECT were analyzed by SPM99 software. The significant correlation threshold for a priori regions (frontocortical and limbic regions) was a Z value of at least 2.25 and clusters formed by more than 10 voxels.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Items 1, 6, 11 and 20 were positively correlated with right medial frontal gyrus; item 7 was negatively correlated with bilateral medial frontal gyrus. Items 2 and 10 were positively correlated with right anterior and medial cingulate, respectively. Item 5 was negatively correlated with the left amygdala. Item 9 was negatively correlated with bilateral insula, and item 16 with right insula. Items 12 and 14 were positively correlated with right and left precentral frontal gyrus, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The small sample size and only out-patients included in the study.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The frontal cortex plays an important role in the expression of MDD symptoms. Not all the symptoms evaluated correlated with one single structure, which may explain the diverse results reported in the literature. These preliminary results support the necessity of further analyses by symptoms that could provide more specific information on the pathophysiology of MDD.
authors.affiliation: Instituto Nacional de Psiquiatría Ramón de la Fuente, Dirección de Servicios Clínicos, Calz. México-Xochimilco 101, Col. San Lorenzo Huipulco, Del. Tlalpan 14370, México D.F., Mexico. agraff@imp.edu.mx
authors.forename: Ariel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Graff-Guerrero
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: González-Olvera
authors.forename: Yazmín
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Mendoza-Espinosa
authors.forename: Víctor
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Vaugier
authors.forename: Juan Carlos
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: García-Reyna
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000679:Amygdala / Q000098:blood supply / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology; D001921:Brain / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000098:blood supply / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology; D003545:Cysteine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives*; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000098:blood supply / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000098:blood supply / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D008032:Limbic System / Q000098:blood supply / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D015609:Organotechnetium Compounds; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012039:Regional Blood Flow / Q000502:physiology; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
chemical_list: D015609:Organotechnetium Compounds; C059659:technetium Tc 99m bicisate; D003545:Cysteine