Figiel G S, Krishnan K R, Doraiswamy P M, Rao V P, Nemeroff C B, Boyko O B
Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110.
Neurobiol Aging. 1991 May-Jun;12(3):245-7. doi: 10.1016/0197-4580(91)90104-r.
Subcortical structural changes have been reported to occur in some elderly subjects with late age onset depression. Given the association between diseases affecting subcortical structures and affective disorders, this suggests that these structural changes may be involved in the etiology of late age onset depression in some patients. With the advent of Brain Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), "in vivo" analysis of these subcortical structures is now possible. The authors report a higher occurrence of caudate (60% vs. 11%) and large deep white matter hyperintensities (60% vs. 11%) in late age onset elderly depressed subjects compared with early onset elderly depressed subjects. These results suggest that late age onset depression may be mediated by caudate and white matter structural changes in some patients.
据报道，一些老年迟发性抑郁症患者会出现皮质下结构变化。鉴于影响皮质下结构的疾病与情感障碍之间的关联，这表明这些结构变化可能在某些患者迟发性抑郁症的病因中起作用。随着脑磁共振成像（MRI）的出现，现在可以对这些皮质下结构进行“活体”分析。作者报告称，与早发性老年抑郁症患者相比，迟发性老年抑郁症患者尾状核（60%对11%）和深部白质高信号（60%对11%）的发生率更高。这些结果表明，在某些患者中，迟发性抑郁症可能由尾状核和白质结构变化介导。
