title: Characteristic distributions of regional cerebral blood flow changes in major depressive disorder patients: a pseudo-continuous arterial spin labeling (pCASL) study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Most previous studies that examined regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) abnormalities in major depressive disorder (MDD) required the injection of radioisotopes into subjects. Here by using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with the pseudo-continuous arterial spin labeling (pCASL) method which does not require radioisotopes, we examined rCBF in patients with MDD in comparison with that in patients with schizophrenia and healthy subjects, taking the regional cerebral gray matter volume into account.
  
  
  METHODS
  Subjects were 27 patients with MDD, 42 with schizophrenia and 43 healthy volunteers who underwent 3-T MRI with pCASL. Obtained pCASL imaging data were subject to the voxel-by-voxel statistical analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were significant reductions of rCBF in the right inferior prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortices (ACCs) in the MDD patients compared with the healthy controls. When compared with the schizophrenic patients, the MDD patients showed lower rCBF in the subgenual ACC and higher rCBF in left occipital region.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The abnormalities of rCBF in MDD were known to reverse during symptom remission. Further study with follow-up period would bring the perception about the treatment response.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The rCBF reduction in the subgenual region may be a specific functional abnormality to MDD patients, which may provide a biological marker for MDD. The MRI with pCASL method is a promising tool to detect rCBF abnormalities controlling for gray matter volume in psychiatric disorders.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mental Disorder Research, National Institute of Neuroscience, 4-1-1, Ogawa-Higashi, Kodaira, Tokyo, Japan. Electronic address: ota@ncnp.go.jp.
authors.forename: Miho
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ota
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, National Institute of Neuroscience, 4-1-1, Ogawa-Higashi, Kodaira, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Takamasa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Noda
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, National Institute of Neuroscience, 4-1-1, Ogawa-Higashi, Kodaira, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Noriko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.affiliation: Department of Mental Disorder Research, National Institute of Neuroscience, 4-1-1, Ogawa-Higashi, Kodaira, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Kotaro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hattori
authors.affiliation: Department of Mental Disorder Research, National Institute of Neuroscience, 4-1-1, Ogawa-Higashi, Kodaira, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Toshiya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Teraishi
authors.affiliation: Department of Mental Disorder Research, National Institute of Neuroscience, 4-1-1, Ogawa-Higashi, Kodaira, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroaki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hori
authors.affiliation: Department of Mental Disorder Research, National Institute of Neuroscience, 4-1-1, Ogawa-Higashi, Kodaira, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nagashima
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, National Institute of Neuroscience, 4-1-1, Ogawa-Higashi, Kodaira, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Keigo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shimoji
authors.affiliation: National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, National Institute of Neuroscience, 4-1-1, Ogawa-Higashi, Kodaira, Tokyo 187-8502, Japan.
authors.forename: Teruhiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Higuchi
authors.affiliation: Department of Mental Disorder Research, National Institute of Neuroscience, 4-1-1, Ogawa-Higashi, Kodaira, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kunugi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation / Q000502:physiology*; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D066128:Gray Matter / Q000098:blood supply*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000503:physiopathology; D013113:Spin Labels
chemical_list: D013113:Spin Labels
keywords: Biological parametric mapping; Cerebral blood flow; Major depressive disorder; Pseudo-continuous arterial spin labeling; Schizophrenia