Department of Radiology, Aalborg Hospital/Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark.
Acta Psychiatr Scand. 2011 Dec;124(6):435-46. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0447.2011.01766.x. Epub 2011 Sep 16.
To determine whether patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) display morphologic, functional, and metabolic brain abnormalities in limbic-cortical regions at a baseline magnetic resonance (MR) scan and whether these changes are normalized in MDD patients in remission at a follow-up scan.
A longitudinal 3.0-Tesla (T) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) study was carried out with cortical thickness measurements with a surface-based approach, perfusion measurements with three-dimensional (3D) pseudo-continuous arterial spin labeling (pCASL), and spectroscopy (1H-MRS) measurements in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) with water as an internal reference adjusted for cerebrospinal fluid content. We examined 23 MDD patients and 26 healthy controls. MDD patients underwent a baseline MRI at inclusion and were invited to a follow-up scan when they were in remission or after a 6-month follow-up period.
Major findings were a significantly thinner posterior cingulate cortex in non-remitters than in remitters, a significant decrease in perfusion in the frontal lobes and the ACC in non-remitters compared with healthy controls at baseline and significantly reduced N-acetylaspartate, myo-inositol, and glutamate levels in MDD patients compared with healthy controls at baseline.
Using novel MRI techniques, we have found abnormalities in cerebral regions related to cortical-limbic pathways in MDD patients.
在基线磁共振（MR）扫描中确定是否存在伴有重度抑郁症（MDD）的患者在边缘皮质区域显示形态、功能和代谢性脑异常，以及在随访扫描中这些变化是否在缓解的 MDD 患者中恢复正常。
进行了一项纵向 3.0 特斯拉（T）磁共振成像（MRI）研究，采用基于表面的方法进行皮质厚度测量，采用三维（3D）伪连续动脉自旋标记（pCASL）进行灌注测量，并用水作为内部参考进行前扣带皮层（ACC）的光谱（1H-MRS）测量，并校正脑脊髓液含量。我们检查了 23 名 MDD 患者和 26 名健康对照者。MDD 患者在纳入时进行了基线 MRI，并在缓解时或在 6 个月随访期后被邀请进行随访扫描。
主要发现是无缓解者的后扣带皮层明显变薄，无缓解者的额叶和 ACC 的灌注在基线时与健康对照组相比明显降低，与健康对照组相比，MDD 患者的 N-乙酰天门冬氨酸、肌醇和谷氨酸水平在基线时明显降低。
使用新的 MRI 技术，我们发现 MDD 患者与皮质边缘通路相关的脑区存在异常。
