Department of Behavioral Neuroscience, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, USA.
Department of Psychiatry, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, USA.
Psychiatry Res Neuroimaging. 2021 Sep 30;315:111324. doi: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2021.111324. Epub 2021 Jun 29.
Prior research has demonstrated associations between adolescent depression and alterations in the white matter microstructure of fiber tracts implicated in emotion regulation. Using diffusion tensor imaging, this study explored premorbid, sex-specific white matter microstructural features that related to future emergence of major depressive disorder (MDD) during adolescence and young adulthood. Adolescents from the National Consortium on Alcohol and Neurodevelopment in Adolescence study, who were 12-21 years old at study entry and had not experienced major depression as of the baseline assessment, were selected for inclusion (N = 462, n = 223 female adolescents). Over five years of annual follow-up, 63 participants developed a diagnosis of MDD, as determined by the Computerized Semi-Structured Assessment for the Genetics of Alcoholism (n = 39 female adolescents). A whole-brain multivariate modeling approach was used to examine the relationship between fractional anisotropy (FA) at baseline and emergence into MDD, as a function of sex, controlling for age at baseline. Among female adolescents, those who developed MDD had significantly lower baseline FA in a portion of left precentral gyrus white matter, while male adolescents exhibited the opposite pattern. These results may serve as indirect microstructural markers of risk and targets for the prevention of depression during adolescence.
先前的研究表明，青少年抑郁与情绪调节相关的纤维束白质微观结构的改变之间存在关联。本研究使用弥散张量成像技术，探讨了与青少年和青年期出现重度抑郁症（MDD）相关的、发生于发病前的、具有性别特异性的白质微观结构特征。该研究纳入了来自青少年酒精研究国家联盟（National Consortium on Alcohol and Neurodevelopment in Adolescence）的参与者，他们在研究开始时年龄在 12-21 岁之间，且在基线评估时没有出现重度抑郁症。共有 462 名参与者（n=223 名女性青少年）符合入选标准。在 5 年的年度随访中，有 63 名参与者被诊断为 MDD，这是通过计算机化半结构化酒精相关遗传学评估（Computerized Semi-Structured Assessment for the Genetics of Alcoholism）确定的（n=39 名女性青少年）。采用全脑多元建模方法，考察了基线时各向异性分数（fractional anisotropy，FA）与发展为 MDD 之间的关系，其中性别为自变量，以基线时的年龄为协变量。在女性青少年中，那些发展为 MDD 的人在左侧中央前回白质的一部分区域中，基线 FA 值显著降低，而男性青少年则表现出相反的模式。这些结果可能是青少年期抑郁的风险的间接微观结构标志物，也是抑郁预防的潜在靶点。
