University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA.
Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, USA.
J Affect Disord. 2021 Feb 15;281:358-366. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2020.12.017. Epub 2020 Dec 9.
The hippocampus has been implicated in the pathophysiology of depression. This study examined whether youth hippocampal subregion volumes were differentially associated with maternal depression history and youth's depressive symptoms across the transition to adolescence.
74 preadolescent offspring (M=10.74+/-0.84 years) of mothers with (n = 33) and without a lifetime depression history (n = 41) completed a structural brain scan. Youth depressive symptoms were assessed with clinical interviews and mother- and youth-reports prior to the neuroimaging assessment at age 9 (M=9.08+/-0.29 years), at the neuroimaging assessment, and in early adolescence (M=12.56+/-0.40 years).
Maternal depression was associated with preadolescent offspring's reduced bilateral hippocampal head volumes and increased left hippocampal body volume. Reduced bilateral head volumes were associated with offspring's increased concurrent depressive symptoms. Furthermore, reduced right hippocampal head volume mediated associations between maternal depression and increases in offspring depressive symptoms from age 9 to age 12.
This study included a modest-sized sample that was oversampled for early temperamental characteristics, one neuroimaging assessment, and no correction for multiple comparisons.
Findings implicate reductions in hippocampal head volume in the intergenerational transmission of risk from parents to offspring.
海马体与抑郁症的病理生理学有关。本研究考察了青少年期过渡期间，青年海马亚区体积是否与母亲的抑郁史和青年的抑郁症状存在差异关联。
74 名青春期前的子女（M=10.74±0.84 岁）的母亲有（n=33）和没有终生抑郁史（n=41）完成了结构脑扫描。在神经影像学评估之前，通过临床访谈和母亲和青少年报告评估青少年的抑郁症状，在 9 岁时（M=9.08±0.29 岁）、在神经影像学评估时和青少年早期（M=12.56±0.40 岁）。
母亲的抑郁与青春期前子女的双侧海马头体积减少和左侧海马体体积增加有关。双侧头部体积减少与子女同时出现的抑郁症状增加有关。此外，右侧海马头部体积减少介导了母亲抑郁与子女从 9 岁到 12 岁期间抑郁症状增加之间的关联。
本研究样本量适中，过度抽样了早期气质特征，只有一次神经影像学评估，且未对多重比较进行校正。
研究结果表明，海马头部体积减少与父母向子女传递风险的代际传递有关。
