title: Increased prefrontal and parietal cortical thickness does not correlate with anhedonia in patients with untreated first-episode major depressive disorders.
abstract: Cerebral morphological abnormalities in major depressive disorder (MDD) may be modulated by antidepressant treatment and course of illness in chronic medicated patients. The present study examined cortical thickness in patients with untreated first-episode MDD to elucidate the early pathophysiology of this illness. Here, we examined cortical thickness in patients with first-episode MDD (N=27) and healthy controls (N=27) using an automated surface-based method (in FreeSurfer). By assessing the correlation between caudate volume and cortical thickness at each vertex on the cortical surface, a caudate-cortical network was obtained for each group. Subsequent analysis was performed to assess the effect of anhedonia by the Temporal Experience of Pleasure Scale. We observed increased cortical thickness at the right orbital frontal cortex and the left inferior parietal gyrus in MDD patients compared with healthy controls. Furthermore, morphometric correlational analysis using cortical thickness measurement revealed increased caudate-cortical connectivity in the bilateral superior parietal gyrus in MDD patients. All changes were not related to anhedonia. These preliminary findings may reflect disorder manifestation close to illness onset and may provide insight into the early neurobiology of MDD.
authors.affiliation: Neuropsychology and Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China; College of Business, Hunan Agricultural University, Chang sha, China.
authors.forename: Xin-hua
authors.initials: XH
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Neuropsychology and Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Neuropsychology and Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Jia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: College of Business, Hunan Agricultural University, Chang sha, China.
authors.forename: Cui-ying
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: School of public health, Central South University, Changsha, China.
authors.forename: Xiao-qun
authors.initials: XQ
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Castle Peak Hospital, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China.
authors.forename: Eric F C
authors.initials: EF
authors.lastname: Cheung
authors.affiliation: Mental Health Institute of The Second Xiangya Hospital, National Technology Institute of Psychiatry, Key Laboratory of Psychiatry and Mental Health of Hunan Province, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China.
authors.forename: Guang-rong
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.affiliation: Neuropsychology and Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China. Electronic address: rckchan@psych.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Raymond C K
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Chan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D059445:Anhedonia / Q000502:physiology*; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000473:pathology*; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D009929:Organ Size; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000473:pathology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Anhedonia; Caudate–cortical network; Cortical thickness; Major depressive disorder; Parietal gyrus