title: The contribution of regional gray/white matter volume in preclinical depression assessed by the Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire: a voxel-based morphometry study.
abstract: Negative automatic thought is a characteristic of depression that contributes toward the risk for episodes of depression. Evidence suggests that gray and white matter abnormalities are linked with depression, but little is known about the association between the negative cognitive experience and brain structure in preclinical depression. We examined the correlation between negative thought and gray (GMV)/white matter volume (WMV) in healthy individuals with preclinical depression. The participants were 309 university students with preclinical depression, as measured by their Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire (ATQ) scores. We collected brain MRIs and used voxel-based morphometry to analyze the correlation of regional GMV/WMV with the ATQ scores. The voxel-based morphometry results showed that the GMV of the right parahippocampal gyrus and fusiform gyrus and the WMV of the right superior temporal pole increased with the severity of depression. Furthermore, the corpus callosum volume decreased with the ATQ scores. This study implied that GMV increase and corpus callosum volume reduction may be associated with negative thought in nonclinical individuals, even at a preclinical depressed level.
authors.affiliation: aKey Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (SWU), Ministry of Education bDepartment of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Lingli
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cun
authors.forename: Yanqiu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Songyan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Dongtao
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.forename: Jiang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Qiu
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D003863:Depression / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D066128:Gray Matter / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D009929:Organ Size; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D066127:White Matter / Q000473:pathology*; D055815:Young Adult