Possible involvement of rumination in gray matter abnormalities in persistent symptoms of major depression: An exploratory magnetic resonance imaging voxel-based morphometry study

Abstract

Our data provide additional evidence supporting the hypothesis that TRD patients show GM abnormalities compared with healthy subjects. Furthermore, this report is the first to describe a study identifying brain regions for which the GM volume is correlated with rumination in TRD patients. These results improve our understanding of the anatomical characteristics of TRD.

Cortical abnormalities and association with symptom dimensions across the depressive spectrum

“…Our main findings were that cortical volume is reduced within the VLPFC and that this reduction correlates with discrete behavioral dimensions in the depressive spectrum as measured by VAS. While previous studies have investigated the relationship between structural neuroimaging abnormalities and symptom domains of depression (Pizzagalli et al 2004; Savitz and Drevets 2009; Chuang et al 2014; Machino et al 2014), this is the first study to examine the relationship between cortical structural abnormalities in MDD and specific behavioral dimensions of depression in a large sample of adult MDD and HC subjects. If replicated, behavioral symptoms in addition to structural imaging abnormalities may provide an expedient method of identifying patients at high risk for depression in the clinical setting where time and financial resources are limited.…”

“…Moreover, although many structural neuroimaging studies of MDD have examined associations between structural brain abnormalities and clinical variables (eg., age at onset, duration of illness, number of episodes, length of remission, effect of medication, and severity of the current depressive episode) (Lorenzetti et al 2009; Bora et al 2012; Du et al 2012; Lai 2013; Grieve et al 2013), few have examined specific symptom or behavioral dimensions of depressive illness (Chuang et al 2014; Machino et al 2014; Pizzagalli et al 2004; Joffe et al 2009). In prior studies, prominent anhedonia in patients with MDD has been associated with a significant reduction in overall gray matter density by age compared to MDD patients without anhedonia and a healthy control group (Pizzagalli et al 2004).…”

“…Negative symptoms (eg., blunted affect, alogia, and social withdrawal) have been associated with a significant reduction in gray matter volume in the cerebellum (Chuang et al 2014). Rumination, the non-productive compulsive attention on internal mental distress (Treynor W 2003), has been associated with increased gray matter volume in the right superior temporal gyrus in patients who have failed two or more trials of antidepressants (ie., treatment-resistant depression) (Machino et al 2014). And, in MDD patients with high levels of neuroticism, trait depression, and chronic stress, the effect of hippocampal volume reduction was mediated by BDNF 66Met carrier status (Joffe et al 2009).…”

The gray matter alterations in major depressive disorder and panic disorder: Putative differences in the pathogenesis

“…The SFG is important for attention and cognition (Leung et al, 2009;Li et al, 2010). The treatment-resistant or remitted patients of MDD also had GMV reduction in the right SFG (Machino et al, 2014;Yuan et al, 2008). In addition to frontal regions, the temporal lobe is a core structure for the MDD (Andreescu et al, 2008).…”

Molecular, Functional, and Structural Imaging of Major Depressive Disorder

“…Due to its simplicity of use, VBM has motivated many neuroscientists to characterize the specific abnormalities of graymatter volume throughout the brain in MDD [15,19,20]. Recent meta-analysis of VBM in MDD has shown strong evidence of gray-matter volume reduction in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) [21][22][23].…”