title: Prospective longitudinal study of subcortical brain volumes in individuals at high familial risk of mood disorders with or without subsequent onset of depression.
abstract: Subcortical volumetric brain abnormalities have been observed in mood disorders. However, it is unknown whether these reflect adverse effects predisposing to mood disorders or emerge at illness onset. Magnetic resonance imaging was conducted at baseline and after two years in 111 initially unaffected young adults at increased risk of mood disorders because of a close family history of bipolar disorder and 93 healthy controls (HC). During the follow-up, 20 high-risk subjects developed major depressive disorder (HR-MDD), with the others remaining well (HR-well). Volumes of the lateral ventricles, caudate, putamen, pallidum, thalamus, hippocampus and amygdala were extracted for each hemisphere. Using linear mixed-effects models, differences and longitudinal changes in subcortical volumes were investigated between groups (HC, HR-MDD, HR-well). There were no significant differences for any subcortical volume between groups controlling for multiple testing. Additionally, no significant differences emerged between groups over time. Our results indicate that volumetric subcortical brain abnormalities of these regions using the current method appear not to form familial trait markers for vulnerability to mood disorders in close relatives of bipolar disorder patients over the two-year time period studied. Moreover, they do not appear to reduce in response to illness onset at least for the time period studied.
authors.affiliation: Division of Psychiatry, University of Edinburgh, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Morningside Park, Edinburgh EH10 5HF, United Kingdom; Division of Systems Neuroscience of Psychopathology, Translational Research Center, University Hospital of Psychiatry, University of Bern, Bolligenstrasse 111, 3000 Bern 60, Switzerland. Electronic address: martina.papmeyer@puk.unibe.ch.
authors.forename: Martina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Papmeyer
authors.affiliation: Division of Psychiatry, University of Edinburgh, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Morningside Park, Edinburgh EH10 5HF, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Jessika E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Sussmann
authors.affiliation: Division of Psychiatry, University of Edinburgh, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Morningside Park, Edinburgh EH10 5HF, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Tiffany
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Stewart
authors.affiliation: Division of Psychiatry, University of Edinburgh, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Morningside Park, Edinburgh EH10 5HF, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Giles
authors.affiliation: Division of Psychiatry, University of Edinburgh, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Morningside Park, Edinburgh EH10 5HF, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: John G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Centola
authors.affiliation: Division of Psychiatry, University of Edinburgh, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Morningside Park, Edinburgh EH10 5HF, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Vasileios
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Zannias
authors.affiliation: Division of Psychiatry, University of Edinburgh, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Morningside Park, Edinburgh EH10 5HF, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Stephen M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Lawrie
authors.affiliation: Division of Psychiatry, University of Edinburgh, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Morningside Park, Edinburgh EH10 5HF, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Heather C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Whalley
authors.affiliation: Division of Psychiatry, University of Edinburgh, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Morningside Park, Edinburgh EH10 5HF, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Andrew M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: McIntosh
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000473:pathology*; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000473:pathology*; D004198:Disease Susceptibility; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D012306:Risk; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Bipolar disorder; Magnetic resonance imaging; Major depressive disorder; Neuroimaging