title: Suicidal behavior is associated with reduced corpus callosum area.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Corpus callosum (CC) size has been associated with cognitive and emotional deficits in a range of neuropsychiatric and mood disorders. As such deficits are also found in suicidal behavior, we investigated specifically the association between CC atrophy and suicidal behavior.
  
  
  METHODS
  We studied 435 right-handed individuals without dementia from a cohort of community-dwelling persons aged 65 years and over (the ESPRIT study). They were divided in three groups: suicide attempters (n = 21), affective control subjects (AC) (n = 180) without history of suicide attempt but with a history of depression, and healthy control subjects (HC) (n = 234). T1-weighted magnetic resonance images were traced to measure the midsagittal areas of the anterior, mid, and posterior CC. Multivariate analysis of covariance was used to compare CC areas in the three groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Multivariate analyses adjusted for age, gender, childhood trauma, head trauma, and total brain volume showed that the area of the posterior third of CC was significantly smaller in suicide attempters than in AC (p = .020) and HC (p = .010) individuals. No significant differences were found between AC and HC. No differences were found for the anterior and mid thirds of the CC.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings emphasize a reduced size of the posterior third of the CC in subjects with a history of suicide, suggesting a diminished interhemispheric connectivity and a possible role of CC in the pathophysiology of suicidal behavior. Further studies are needed to strengthen these results and clarify the underlying cellular changes leading to these morphometric differences.
authors.affiliation: Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale (INSERM), Unit 1061, Neuropsychiatry, Epidemiological and Clinical Research, La Colombière Hospital, Montpellier, France.
authors.forename: Fabienne
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cyprien
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Courtet
authors.forename: Alain
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Malafosse
authors.forename: Jerome
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Maller
authors.forename: Chantal
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Meslin
authors.forename: Alain
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bonafé
authors.forename: Emmanuelle
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Le Bars
authors.forename: Nicolas Menjot
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: de Champfleur
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ritchie
authors.forename: Sylvaine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Artero
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003337:Corpus Callosum / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013405:Suicide / Q000523:psychology*