Department of Psychiatry, Nanjing Brain Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210029, PR China.
Behav Brain Res. 2012 Feb 1;227(1):30-5. doi: 10.1016/j.bbr.2011.10.025. Epub 2011 Oct 21.
Growing evidences suggest that the abnormality of hippocampal volume may occur in the process of depression. In this longitudinal study, we calculated the hippocampal volume of 14 remitted geriatric depressed (RGD) patients and 19 healthy participants at baseline and follow-up. We found significant improvement of performance in Trail Making Test-A (P=0.038) and Test-B (P=0.032), and the right hippocampal volume increased mildly in RGD. However, in RGD patients, positive correlations were seen between the changes in right hippocampal volumes and Symbol Digit Modality Test scores (r=0.675, P=0.008), and changes in left hippocampal volumes and Mini-Mental State Examination scores (r=0.743, P=0.002). Our findings suggest that hippocampus related cognitive impairment and previously addressed decreased hippocampal volume might represent a state rather than a permanent trait of the depressive disorder. The results suggest that hippocampal volume may be a useful risk marker for conversion to Alzheimer's disease in RGD patients. Additionally, our study indicates that effective antidepressants treatment might postpone and even revise the deterioration of hippocampus to some degree.
越来越多的证据表明，海马体积的异常可能发生在抑郁症的发展过程中。在这项纵向研究中，我们在基线和随访时计算了 14 名缓解期老年抑郁症（RGD）患者和 19 名健康参与者的海马体积。我们发现 Trail Making Test-A（P=0.038）和 Test-B（P=0.032）的表现有显著改善，并且 RGD 患者的右侧海马体积轻度增加。然而，在 RGD 患者中，右侧海马体积的变化与符号数字模态测试评分之间呈正相关（r=0.675，P=0.008），左侧海马体积的变化与简易精神状态检查评分之间呈正相关（r=0.743，P=0.002）。我们的研究结果表明，海马体相关认知障碍和先前发现的海马体体积减少可能代表抑郁障碍的一种状态，而不是一种永久性特征。结果表明，海马体体积可能是 RGD 患者向阿尔茨海默病转化的一个有用的风险标志物。此外，我们的研究表明，有效的抗抑郁治疗可能在一定程度上延缓甚至修正海马体的恶化。
