Effects of early-life adversity on white matter diffusivity changes in patients at risk for major depression.
J Psychiatry Neurosci
; 37(1): 37-45, 2012 Jan.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-22008179
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Relatives of patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) and people who experienced early-life adversity are at risk for MDD. The aim of our study was to investigate whether unaffected first-degree healthy relatives (UHRs) of patients with MDD show changes in white matter fibre connections compared with healthy controls and whether there are interactions between early-life adversity and these microstructural changes.METHODS:
Unaffected, healthy first-degree relatives of patients with MDD and healthy controls without any family history for a psychiatric disease underwent high angular resolution diffusion imaging with 61 diffusion directions. Data were analyzed with tract-based spatial statistics, and findings were confirmed with tractography.RESULTS:
Twenty-one UHRs and 24 controls participated in our study. The UHRs showed greater fractional anisotropy than controls in the body and splenium of the corpus callosum, inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus (IFO), left superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF) and right fornix. The UHRs who experienced more early-life adversity had greater fractional anisotropy than those with less early-life adversity in the splenium of the corpus callosum, fornix, IFO and SLF; in controls, early-life adversity was found to be associated with decreased fractional anisotropy in these fibre tracts.LIMITATIONS:
Studying participants' strategies for coping with early-life adversity would have been helpful. Crossing fibres intracts are a general limitation of the method used.CONCLUSION:
Altogether, our findings provide evidence for greater fractional anisotropy in UHRs and for interaction between early-life adversity and family risk on white matter tracts involved in cognitive-emotional processes. Whether stronger neural fibre connections are associated with more resilience against depression needs to be addressed in future studies.
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Encéfalo
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Transtorno Depressivo Maior
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Sobreviventes Adultos de Maus-Tratos Infantis
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Acontecimentos que Mudam a Vida
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Fibras Nervosas Mielinizadas
Tipo de estudo:
Etiology_studies
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Risk_factors_studies
Limite:
Adult
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Female
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Humans
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Male
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Middle aged
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2012
Tipo de documento:
Article