Department of Psychiatry, First Affiliated Hospital, China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning, PR China.
Brain Function Research Section, First Affiliated Hospital, China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning, PR China.
Acta Neuropsychiatr. 2020 Apr;32(2):84-91. doi: 10.1017/neu.2019.45. Epub 2020 Jan 9.
The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is enormously important in suicide and major depressive disorder (MDD). However, little is known about the structural alterations in the brains of people with MDD and suicidal ideation. We examined the gray matter volume (GMV) of the PFC of individuals with MDD and suicidal ideation to determine if PFC volumetric differences contribute to suicidal ideation in patients with MDD. Thirty-five subjects with MDD and suicidal ideation, 38 subjects with MDD but without suicidal ideation, and 43 age- and gender-matched healthy control (HC) subjects underwent T1-weighted imaging. A voxel-based morphometric analysis was conducted to compare the PFC GMVs of the three groups. Further GMV reductions in the left and right dorsolateral PFC (DLPFC) and right ventrolateral PFC (VLPFC) were detected in the MDD with suicidal ideation group compared with those in the HC group and the MDD without suicidal ideation group, whereas the MDD without suicidal ideation group only exhibited significant differences in the left DLPFC relative to the HC group. Our findings demonstrated that left DLPFC reductions were associated with MDD and suicidal ideation, and diminished GMV reductions in the right DLPFC and right VLPFC were only associated with suicidal ideation. These results help us better understand the neuropathological changes in MDD with suicidal ideation.
前额叶皮层（PFC）在自杀和重度抑郁症（MDD）中极为重要。然而，对于有自杀意念的 MDD 患者大脑的结构改变知之甚少。我们检查了有自杀意念的 MDD 个体的 PFC 灰质体积（GMV），以确定 PFC 体积差异是否导致 MDD 患者的自杀意念。35 名有自杀意念的 MDD 患者、38 名有 MDD 但无自杀意念的患者和 43 名年龄和性别匹配的健康对照组（HC）患者接受了 T1 加权成像。进行基于体素的形态计量学分析以比较三组的 PFC GMV。与 HC 组和无自杀意念的 MDD 组相比，有自杀意念的 MDD 组的左、右侧背外侧前额叶皮层（DLPFC）和右侧腹外侧前额叶皮层（VLPFC）的 GMV 进一步减少，而无自杀意念的 MDD 组仅与 HC 组相比，左 DLPFC 存在显著差异。我们的研究结果表明，左 DLPFC 的减少与 MDD 和自杀意念有关，而右 DLPFC 和右 VLPFC 的 GMV 减少仅与自杀意念有关。这些结果有助于我们更好地理解有自杀意念的 MDD 的神经病理学变化。
