title: Quantitative tract-specific measures of uncinate and cingulum in major depression using diffusion tensor imaging.
abstract: Previous findings suggested the role of the prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, and cingulate gyrus in major depressive disorders (MDD), but the white matter microstructural abnormalities of the fibers connecting these brain structures are not known. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that white matter abnormalities are present in association fibers of the uncinate fasciculus (UF) and cingulum bundle (CB) among MDD subjects. A total of 21 MDD subjects aged between 30 and 65 years and 21 age-matched healthy controls (HC) were recruited. All subjects were right-handed and without history of diabetes or other cardiac diseases. We extracted quantitative tract-specific measures based on diffusion tensor imaging tractography to examine both diffusivity and geometric properties of the UF and CB. Significantly decreased fractional anisotropy (FA) and increased radial diffusivity of the right UF were observed in MDD patients compared with HC (p<0.05), while their geometric characteristics remained relatively unchanged. Among MDD subjects, depression severity had a significant negative correlation with normalized number of fibers (NNF) in the right UF (r=-0.53, p=0.02). We also found significant age effect (old<young) in HC group and laterality effect (L>R) in both groups in the FA measure of the CB. Our study demonstrates novel findings of white matter microstructural abnormalities of the right UF in MDD. In the MDD group, the severity of depression is associated with reduced NNF in the right UF. These findings have implications for both clinical manifestations of depression as well as its pathophysiology.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Illinois-Chicago, Chicago, IL 60612, USA. azhang@psych.uic.edu
authors.forename: Aifeng
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Alex
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Leow
authors.forename: Olusola
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Ajilore
authors.forename: Melissa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lamar
authors.forename: Shaolin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Josh
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Joseph
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Medina
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhan
authors.forename: Anand
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kumar
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D056324:Diffusion Tensor Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009413:Nerve Fibers, Myelinated / Q000473:pathology; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology
references.citation: Hum Brain Mapp. 2010 Mar;31(3):378-90
references.pmid: 19662658
references.citation: Am J Psychiatry. 2002 Nov;159(11):1929-32
references.pmid: 12411231
references.citation: Am J Psychiatry. 2007 May;164(5):823-6
references.pmid: 17475743
references.citation: Brain Res. 2011 Jan 19;1369:223-9
references.pmid: 21047498
references.citation: Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2000 Jan;57(1):90-3
references.pmid: 10632240
references.citation: Neuroimage. 2004 May;22(1):409-18
references.pmid: 15110034
references.citation: Cortex. 2008 Sep;44(8):1105-32
references.pmid: 18619589
references.citation: Comput Methods Programs Biomed. 2006 Feb;81(2):106-16
references.pmid: 16413083
references.citation: Psychiatry Res. 2011 Jan 30;191(1):80-3
references.pmid: 21145709
references.citation: Neuroimage. 2004;23 Suppl 1:S69-84
references.pmid: 15501102
references.citation: Neuropsychopharmacology. 2002 Feb;26(2):229-36
references.pmid: 11790518
references.citation: Magn Reson Med. 2003 Jan;49(1):177-82
references.pmid: 12509835
references.citation: Biol Psychiatry. 2002 Feb 15;51(4):273-9
references.pmid: 11958777
references.citation: J Affect Disord. 2010 Jan;120(1-3):240-4
references.pmid: 19467559
references.citation: AJNR Am J Neuroradiol. 2006 Nov-Dec;27(10):2168-78
references.pmid: 17110689
references.citation: Cereb Cortex. 2008 Jun;18(6):1374-83
references.pmid: 17928332
references.citation: Biol Psychiatry. 2009 Oct 1;66(7):691-4
references.pmid: 19362707
references.citation: Biol Psychiatry. 2009 Aug 1;66(3):245-52
references.pmid: 19375071
references.citation: Am J Psychiatry. 2003 Aug;160(8):1516-8
references.pmid: 12900317
references.citation: Psychiatry Res. 2010 Oct 30;184(1):38-48
references.pmid: 20832255
references.citation: Am J Psychiatry. 2008 Feb;165(2):238-44
references.pmid: 18172016
references.citation: Neuroimage. 2003 Nov;20(3):1714-22
references.pmid: 14642481
references.citation: Psychother Psychosom. 2010;79(3):149-55
references.pmid: 20185971
references.citation: Biol Psychiatry. 2006 Dec 15;60(12):1356-63
references.pmid: 16876144
references.citation: J Comput Assist Tomogr. 1998 Jan-Feb;22(1):139-52
references.pmid: 9448779
references.citation: Biol Psychiatry. 2010 Mar 1;67(5):422-31
references.pmid: 20159144
references.citation: Dev Neurosci. 2002;24(4):255-61
references.pmid: 12457063
references.citation: Br J Soc Clin Psychol. 1967 Dec;6(4):278-96
references.pmid: 6080235
references.citation: Hum Brain Mapp. 2005 Feb;24(2):92-8
references.pmid: 15455461
references.citation: Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2008 Sep;65(9):1041-52
references.pmid: 18762590
references.citation: Magn Reson Med. 2004 Dec;52(6):1358-72
references.pmid: 15562495
references.citation: Neuroimage. 2010 Dec;53(4):1244-55
references.pmid: 20600995
references.citation: Biol Psychiatry. 2007 Sep 1;62(5):429-37
references.pmid: 17210143
references.citation: Biol Psychiatry. 2003 Dec 1;54(11):1171-80
references.pmid: 14643084
references.citation: Neuroimage. 2009 May 15;46(1):177-92
references.pmid: 19233293
references.citation: J Affect Disord. 2003 Dec;77(3):237-45
references.pmid: 14612223
references.citation: PLoS One. 2010 Nov 29;5(11):e13945
references.pmid: 21124764
references.citation: Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat. 2007;3(5):669-74
references.pmid: 19300596
references.citation: Magn Reson Med. 2009 Jan;61(1):205-14
references.pmid: 19097208
references.citation: Am J Psychiatry. 2004 Jan;161(1):99-108
references.pmid: 14702257
references.citation: J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2006 Jan;77(1):120-2
references.pmid: 16361611
references.citation: Nat Med. 2001 May;7(5):541-7
references.pmid: 11329053
references.citation: Curr Opin Neurobiol. 2001 Apr;11(2):240-9
references.pmid: 11301246
references.citation: Neuroimage. 2007 Jul 1;36(3):630-44
references.pmid: 17481925
references.citation: Neurobiol Aging. 2010 Mar;31(3):464-81
references.pmid: 18495300
references.citation: Biol Psychiatry. 2008 Dec 15;64(12):1088-92
references.pmid: 18814861
references.citation: Brain Res. 2010 Aug 12;1348:156-64
references.pmid: 20513367
references.citation: Neuroimage. 2002 Nov;17(3):1429-36
references.pmid: 12414282
references.citation: Neuroimage. 2004 Jul;22(3):1060-75
references.pmid: 15219578
references.citation: PLoS One. 2008 Sep 24;3(9):e3267
references.pmid: 18813343
references.citation: Nature. 1997 Apr 24;386(6627):824-7
references.pmid: 9126739