Pedroza-Sotelo Karina, Schwarb Hillary, Auerbach Randy P, Ghosh Satrajit S, Henin Aude, Hofmann Stefan G, Pizzagalli Diego A, Yendiki Anastasia, Whitfield-Gabrieli Susan, Gabrieli John D E, Hubbard Nicholas A
Center for Brain, Biology, and Behavior, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA.
Department of Psychology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA.
Hippocampus. 2025 Sep;35(5):e70028. doi: 10.1002/hipo.70028.
Early-life stress and depression among youths are linked to hippocampal gray- and white-matter alterations. Less is known about hippocampal alterations in adolescent anxiety disorders (Anx) or the role that stress or comorbid depressive disorders (Anx + Dep) might play. Here, structural- and diffusion-MRI along with early-life stress-exposure reports were acquired from 197 adolescents (13.58-17.00 years) with Anx, Anx + Dep, and those without (Controls). A normative model externally validated on a large, healthy sample revealed that Anx were more likely than Controls and Anx + Dep to exhibit undersized hippocampal gray-matter volumes for their ages. Volume reductions among Anx were further localized to subfield CA1. No significant gray-matter differences were observed between Anx + Dep and Controls. Standardized probabilistic tractography in hippocampal white-matter pathways demonstrated that, relative to Controls, Anx and Anx + Dep exhibited lower fractional anisotropy specifically in the cingulum-temporal branch. All effects were specific to hippocampal structures. Group differences were not accounted for by early-life stress exposures, despite Anx and Anx + Dep reporting more than Controls. Findings indicated that gray-matter expansion, principally within CA1, may be disrupted among adolescents with anxiety disorders, but not those with comorbid depression. The progressive strengthening of hippocampal-cortical circuits occurring during adolescence may also be disrupted in adolescents with anxiety disorders, regardless of depression.
青少年时期的早期生活压力和抑郁与海马体灰质和白质改变有关。对于青少年焦虑症（Anx）中海马体的改变，或者压力或共病抑郁症（Anx + Dep）可能起的作用，我们了解得较少。在这里，我们对197名青少年（13.58 - 17.00岁）进行了结构和扩散磁共振成像（MRI）检查，并收集了他们早期生活压力暴露的报告，这些青少年分别患有焦虑症（Anx）、焦虑症合并抑郁症（Anx + Dep）以及无此类疾病的对照组。在一个大型健康样本上进行外部验证的规范模型显示，与对照组和焦虑症合并抑郁症组相比，焦虑症患者在其年龄阶段更有可能表现出海马体灰质体积过小。焦虑症患者的体积减少进一步局限于海马体CA1亚区。在焦虑症合并抑郁症组和对照组之间未观察到显著的灰质差异。海马体白质通路的标准化概率纤维束成像显示，相对于对照组，焦虑症组和焦虑症合并抑郁症组在扣带 - 颞叶分支中表现出较低的各向异性分数。所有影响均特定于海马体结构。尽管焦虑症组和焦虑症合并抑郁症组报告的早期生活压力暴露比对照组更多，但组间差异并不能由早期生活压力暴露来解释。研究结果表明，在患有焦虑症的青少年中，主要在CA1区域的灰质扩张可能受到破坏，但患有共病抑郁症的青少年则不然。在青少年时期发生的海马体 - 皮质回路的逐渐强化，在患有焦虑症的青少年中也可能受到破坏，无论其是否患有抑郁症。
