title: Association of microstructural white matter abnormalities with cognitive dysfunction in geriatric patients with major depression.
abstract: Major depression disorder (MDD) is one of the most common causes of disability in people over 60years of age. Previous studies have linked affective and cognitive symptoms of MDD to white matter (WM) disruption in limbic-cortical circuits. However, the relationship between clinical cognitive deficits and loss of integrity in particular WM tracts is poorly understood. Fractional anisotropy (FA) as a measure of WM integrity was investigated in 17 elderly MDD subjects in comparison with 18 age-matched controls using tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) and correlated with clinical and cognitive parameters. MDD patients revealed significantly reduced FA in the right posterior cingulate cluster (PCC) compared with controls. FA in the right PCC (but not in the left PCC) showed a significant positive correlation with performance in a verbal naming task, and showed a non-significant trend toward a correlation with verbal fluency and episodic memory performance. In control subjects, no correlations were found between cognitive tasks and FA values either in the right or left PCC. Results provide additional evidence supporting the neuronal disconnection hypothesis in MDD and suggest that cognitive deficits are related to the loss of integrity in WM tracts associated with the disorder.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Goethe-University, Frankfurt, Germany. gsalves123@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Gilberto Sousa
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Alves
authors.forename: Tarik
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Karakaya
authors.forename: Fabian
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Fußer
authors.forename: Martha
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kordulla
authors.forename: Laurence
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: O'Dwyer
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Christl
authors.forename: Jörg
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Magerkurth
authors.forename: Viola
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Oertel-Knöchel
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Knöchel
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Prvulovic
authors.forename: Alina
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jurcoane
authors.forename: Jerson
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Laks
authors.forename: Eliasz
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Engelhardt
authors.forename: Harald
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hampel
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pantel
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000473:pathology; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology* / Q000523:psychology; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology* / Q000523:psychology; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D018450:Disease Progression; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted; D056784:Leukoencephalopathies / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology* / Q000523:psychology; D008032:Limbic System / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009412:Nerve Fibers / Q000473:pathology*; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000473:pathology*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011594:Psychometrics; D012016:Reference Values