GABA+ levels in postmenopausal women with mild-to-moderate depression: A preliminary study.
BACKGROUND
It is increasingly being recognized that alterations of the GABAergic system are implicated in the pathophysiology of depression. This study aimed to explore in vivo gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) levels in the anterior cingulate cortex/medial prefrontal cortex (ACC/mPFC) and posterior-cingulate cortex (PCC) of postmenopausal women with depression using magnetic resonance spectroscopy (H-MRS).


METHODS
Nineteen postmenopausal women with depression and thirteen healthy controls were enrolled in the study. All subjects underwent H-MRS of the ACC/mPFC and PCC using the "MEGA Point Resolved Spectroscopy Sequence" (MEGA-PRESS) technique. The severity of depression was assessed by 17-item Hamilton Depression Scale (HAMD). Quantification of MRS data was performed using Gannet program. Differences of GABA+ levels from patients and controls were tested using one-way analysis of variance. Spearman correlation coefficients were used to evaluate the linear associations between GABA+ levels and HAMD scores, as well as estrogen levels.


RESULTS
Significantly lower GABA+ levels were detected in the ACC/mPFC of postmenopausal women with depression compared to healthy controls (P = 0.002). No significant correlations were found between 17-HAMD/14-HAMA and GABA+ levels, either in ACC/mPFC (P = 0.486; r = 0.170/P = 0.814; r = -0.058) or PCC (P = 0.887; r = 0.035/ P = 0.987; r = -0.004) in the patients; there is also no significant correlation between GABA+ levels and estrogen levels in patients group (ACC/mPFC: P = 0.629, r = -0.018; PCC: P = 0.861, r = 0.043).


CONCLUSIONS
Significantly lower GABA+ levels were found in the ACC/mPFC of postmenopausal women with depression, suggesting that the dysfunction of the GABAergic system may also be involved in the pathogenesis of depression in postmenopausal women.
aShandong Medical Imaging Research Institute Affiliated to Shandong University bNo. 2 Affiliated Hospital of Shandong Traditional Chinese Medicine University cAffiliated Eye Hospital of Shandong Traditional Chinese Medicine University dQi Lu Hospital of Shandong University, Jinan, China eRussell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine fFM Kirby Center for Functional Brain Imaging, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, MD.
Zhensong
Z
Wang
Aiying
A
Zhang
Bin
B
Zhao
Jie
J
Gan
Guangbin
G
Wang
Fei
F
Gao
Bo
B
Liu
Tao
T
Gong
Wen
W
Liu
Richard A E
RA
Edden
D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000523:psychology; D004967:Estrogens / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy / Q000379:methods*; D008875:Middle Aged; D017698:Postmenopause / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000523:psychology; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000378:metabolism; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid / Q000378:metabolism*
D004967:Estrogens; D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid
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