Vilgis Veronika, Vance Alasdair, Cunnington Ross, Silk Timothy J
Developmental Imaging, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, Parkville, Australia; Academic Child Psychiatry Unit, Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne, Royal Children's Hospital, Parkville, Australia; UC Davis Center for Mind and Brain, Davis, CA, USA.
Developmental Imaging, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, Parkville, Australia; Academic Child Psychiatry Unit, Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne, Royal Children's Hospital, Parkville, Australia.
J Affect Disord. 2017 Oct 15;221:11-16. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2017.06.020. Epub 2017 Jun 13.
Persistent depressive symptoms in children and adolescents are considered a risk factor for the development of major depressive disorder (MDD) later in life. Previous research has shown alterations in white matter microstructure in pediatric MDD but discrepancies exist as to the specific tracts affected. The current study aimed to improve upon previous methodology and address the question whether previous findings of lower fractional anisotropy (FA) replicate in a sample of children with persistent depressive disorder characterized by mild but more chronic symptoms of depression.
White matter microstructure was examined in 25 boys with persistent depressive disorder and 25 typically developing children. Tract specific analysis implemented with the Diffusion Tensor Imaging - ToolKit (DTI-TK) was used to probe fractional anisotropy (FA) in eleven major white matter tracts.
Clusters within the left uncinate, inferior fronto-occipital and cerebrospinal tracts showed lower FA in the clinical group. FA in the left uncinate showed a negative association with self-reported symptoms of depression.
The results demonstrate lower FA in several white matter tracts in children with persistent depressive disorder. These findings support the contention that early onset depression is associated with altered white matter microstructure, which may contribute to the maintenance and recurrence of symptoms.
儿童和青少年的持续性抑郁症状被认为是日后发生重度抑郁症（MDD）的一个风险因素。先前的研究已表明，小儿MDD患者的白质微观结构存在改变，但对于具体受影响的神经束仍存在分歧。当前的研究旨在改进先前的方法，并探讨先前关于较低分数各向异性（FA）的研究结果能否在以轻度但更慢性的抑郁症状为特征的持续性抑郁症患儿样本中得到重复验证。
对25名患有持续性抑郁症的男孩和25名发育正常的儿童进行了白质微观结构检查。使用扩散张量成像工具包（DTI-TK）进行的神经束特异性分析，用于探测11条主要白质神经束中的分数各向异性（FA）。
临床组中，左侧钩束、额枕下束和脑脊液束内的簇显示出较低的FA。左侧钩束中的FA与自我报告的抑郁症状呈负相关。
结果表明，患有持续性抑郁症的儿童的几条白质神经束中FA较低。这些发现支持了早发性抑郁症与白质微观结构改变有关的观点，这可能导致症状的维持和复发。
