title: Cortical thickness and VBM in young women at risk for familial depression and their depressed mothers with positive family history.
abstract: It has been demonstrated that compared to low-risk subjects, high-risk subjects for depression have structural and functional alterations in their brain scans even before the disease onset. However, it is not known if these alterations are related to vulnerability to depression or epiphenomena. One way to resolve this ambiguity is to detect the structural alterations in the high-risk subjects and determine if the same alterations are present in the probands. In this study, we recruited 24 women with the diagnosis of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) with recurrent episodes and their healthy daughters (the high-risk for familial depression group; HRFD). We compared structural brain scans of the patients and HRFG group with those of 24 age-matched healthy mothers and their healthy daughters at similar ages to the HRFD group; respectively. Both cortical gray matter (GM) volume and thickness analyses revealed that HRFD daughters and their MDD mothers had similar GM differences in two regions: the right temporoparietal region and the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex. These results suggested that the observed alterations may be related to trait clinical and neurophysiological characteristics of MDD and may present before the onset of illness.
authors.affiliation: SoCAT Lab, Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Ege University, Izmir, Turkey; Department of Neuroscience, Institute of Health Sciences, Ege University, Izmir, Turkey.
authors.forename: Ozgun
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Ozalay
authors.affiliation: SoCAT Lab, Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Ege University, Izmir, Turkey; Department of Neuroscience, Institute of Health Sciences, Ege University, Izmir, Turkey; Department of Psychiatric Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Dokuz Eylul University, Izmir, Turkey.
authors.forename: Burcu
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Aksoy
authors.affiliation: SoCAT Lab, Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Ege University, Izmir, Turkey.
authors.forename: Sebnem
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tunay
authors.affiliation: SoCAT Lab, Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Ege University, Izmir, Turkey; Department of Psychosis Studies, Institute of Psychiatry, Kings' College London, UK.
authors.forename: Fatma
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Simsek
authors.affiliation: SoCAT Lab, Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Ege University, Izmir, Turkey; School of Medicine, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Swati
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chandhoke
authors.affiliation: SoCAT Lab, Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Ege University, Izmir, Turkey; Department of Neuroradiology, School of Medicine Ege University, Izmir, Turkey.
authors.forename: Omer
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Kitis
authors.affiliation: SoCAT Lab, Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Ege University, Izmir, Turkey; Affective Disorders Unit, Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Ege University, Izmir, Turkey; CUBIT Lab & Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Cagdas
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Eker
authors.affiliation: SoCAT Lab, Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Ege University, Izmir, Turkey; Mercer University, School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Macon, GA, USA. Electronic address: ali.saffet.gonul@ege.edu.tr.
authors.forename: Ali Saffet
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Gonul
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D066128:Gray Matter / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D059906:Neuroimaging / Q000379:methods*; D009679:Nuclear Family / Q000523:psychology*; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D012307:Risk Factors
keywords: Cortical thickness; High-risk for depression; Major Depressive Disorder; Prefrontal cortex; Temporoparietal area; Voxel-based morphometry