Departments of Psychiatry, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada T2N4Z6.
J Affect Disord. 2013 Sep 5;150(2):703-6. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2013.05.009. Epub 2013 Jun 14.
The corpus callosum and related white matter projections have been implicated in major depressive disorder (MDD). Previously, we found a smaller genu in adolescents with MDD as compared to controls. To date, no study has examined the age of depression onset (adult vs. pediatric) as it relates to genu area in adults with MDD.
The area of the corpus callosum and its sub-regions were measured in 21 MDD subjects with pediatric age of onset (≤18 years) (29.48±7.62 years; 16 female, 5 male) and 31 MDD subjects with adult age of onset (≥19 years) (41.42±8.85; 17 female, 14 male) and 19 healthy controls (32.89± years 9.98; 11 female, 8 male) using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
A difference in genu area was noted between groups (p=0.03), after co varying for age with post-hoc tests revealing that the difference was driven by the subjects with an MDD onset of pediatric age (p=0.035). No other sub-regions or total corpus callosum area demonstrated a significant difference. Genu area correlated with age in controls (p=0.02) but not in MDD patients (p=0.35). No significant correlation was found between the confound illness duration and genu area in MDD subjects with pediatric age of onset.
Confirmation and extension of our findings requires a larger sample size and usage of diffusion tensor imaging.
Our findings provide additional evidence of abnormalities in the genu of the corpus callosum in early onset depression that persist into adulthood.
胼胝体及其相关的白质投射与重度抑郁症（MDD）有关。此前，我们发现 MDD 青少年的膝部比对照组小。迄今为止，尚无研究探讨 MDD 发病年龄（成人与儿科）与成人 MDD 患者膝部面积的关系。
使用磁共振成像（MRI）测量了 21 例儿科起病（≤18 岁）的 MDD 患者（29.48±7.62 岁；16 名女性，5 名男性）、31 例成人起病（≥19 岁）的 MDD 患者（41.42±8.85 岁；17 名女性，14 名男性）和 19 名健康对照者（32.89±岁 9.98 岁；11 名女性，8 名男性）的胼胝体及其各亚区面积。
各组间膝部面积存在差异（p=0.03），协方差分析后发现，这种差异是由儿科起病的 MDD 患者驱动的（p=0.035）。其他各亚区或胼胝体总面积均无显著差异。膝部面积与对照组的年龄相关（p=0.02），但与 MDD 患者的年龄无关（p=0.35）。在儿科起病的 MDD 患者中，未发现混杂疾病持续时间与膝部面积之间存在显著相关性。
我们的发现需要更大的样本量和弥散张量成像的应用来证实和扩展。
我们的研究结果提供了更多证据，表明早发性抑郁症患者胼胝体膝部存在异常，这种异常持续到成年期。
