SoCAT Lab, Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Ege University, 35100, Bornova, Izmir, Turkey.
Department of Neuroscience, Institute of Health Sciences, Ege University, Izmir, Turkey.
Brain Struct Funct. 2021 Apr;226(3):875-888. doi: 10.1007/s00429-021-02215-w. Epub 2021 Jan 17.
Previous structural brain-imaging studies in first-degree relatives of depressed patients showed alterations that are generally accepted as vulnerability markers for depression. However, only half of the relatives had depression at follow-up, while the other half did not. The aim of this study was to identify the brain areas associated with resilience to depression in high-risk subjects with familial depression. We recruited 59 young women with a history of depressed mothers. Twenty-nine of them (high-risk group [HRG]) had no depression history, while 30 (depressive group) had at least 1 depressive episode in adolescence. The brain structures of the groups were compared through voxel-based morphometry and analysis of cortical thickness. Individual amygdala nuclei and hippocampal subfield volumes were measured. The analysis showed larger amygdala volume, thicker subcallosal cortex and bilateral insula in the women in the HRG compared with those in the depressive group. In addition, we detected more gray matter in the left temporal pole in the HRG. The larger gray matter volume and increased cortical thickness in the key hub regions of the salience network (amygdala and insula) and structurally connected regions in the limbic network (subcallosal area and temporal pole) might prevent women in the HRG from converting to depression.
先前针对抑郁患者一级亲属的结构脑成像研究显示，这些改变通常被认为是抑郁易感性的标志物。然而，只有一半的亲属在随访时患有抑郁症，而另一半没有。本研究旨在确定与家族性抑郁高危人群中对抑郁的抗逆性相关的大脑区域。我们招募了 59 名有抑郁母亲病史的年轻女性。其中 29 名（高危组[HRG]）无抑郁病史，而 30 名（抑郁组）在青春期至少有 1 次抑郁发作。通过体素形态计量学和皮质厚度分析比较了两组的大脑结构。测量了单个杏仁核核和海马亚区的体积。分析显示，与抑郁组相比，HRG 中的女性杏仁核体积更大，扣带回下皮质更厚，双侧岛叶更厚。此外，我们在 HRG 中还检测到左颞极的更多灰质。在突显网络（杏仁核和岛叶）的关键枢纽区域以及边缘网络（扣带回下区域和颞极）的结构连接区域中，更大的灰质体积和增加的皮质厚度可能防止 HRG 中的女性转化为抑郁症。
