Volumetric brain imaging findings in mood disorders

Abstract

Volumetric neuroimaging is increasingly being used by researchers of affective disorders to assess potential involvement of different brain structures in mood regulation and to test neuroanatomic models of mood disorders. In unipolar depression, findings suggest abnormalities in the frontal lobe (particularly the subgenual prefrontal cortex), basal ganglia (particularly the caudate and putamen), cerebellum, and hippocampus/amygdala complex. In bipolar disorder, abnormalities in the third ventricle, frontal lobe, cerebellum, and possibly the temporal lobe are noted. We review the findings for the various regions of the brain, and discuss the implications on the understanding of mood disorders. Directions for future research in volumetric imaging is then discussed.

Cognitive and neurological impairment in mood disorders

“…The two disorders differentially affect the hippocampus. Unipolar patients often show reduced hippocampal volume, but results have been mixed in bipolar patients, who show volumetric reductions, no difference, or increases compared with controls [30]. Differences across studies related to the patients' duration of illness, age, and stress may be responsible for these discrepancies.…”

“…Studies have found abnormalities in other regions that also are thought to be important for the regulation of emotional behavior, such as in the prefrontal cortices, hippocampus, and caudate/ putamen nuclei [30]. Reductions in brain volume and blood flow in the dorsal medial and dorsal lateral prefrontal cortices in unipolar and bipolar disorders have been among the most consistent findings [31][32][33][34][35][36][37].…”

High‐angular resolution diffusion imaging tractography of cerebellar pathways from newborns to young adults

“…Lesions in the cerebellum have resulted in disorders of executive function (Courchesne et al., 1994; Tanaka, Harada, Arai, & Hirata, 2003), visuospatial abilities (Fabbro et al., 2004; Schmahmann & Sherman, 1998), expressive language (Fabbro et al., 2004; Molinari, Leggio, & Silveri, 1997), and affective behavior (Courchesne et al., 1994; Schmahmann, 2000), among others. Cerebellar dysfunction has also been implicated in disorders such as such autism (Courchesne et al., 1994; Fatemi et al., 2012; Penn, 2006), schizophrenia (Lungu et al., 2013; Picard, Amado, Mouchet‐Mages, Olié, & Krebs, 2008; Varambally, Venkatasubramanian, Thirthalli, Janakiramaiah, & Gangadhar, 2006), depression (Beyer & Krishnan, 2002; Leroi et al., 2002), and bipolar disorder (Beyer & Krishnan, 2002; Mills, Delbello, Adler, & Strakowski, 2005). Some of these disorders have been shown to specifically involve the cerebellar peduncle pathways (Hanaei et al., 2013; Hüttlova et al., 2014; Ojemann et al., 2013; Wang, Fan, Xu, & Wang, 2014; Wang et al., 2003, 2003, 2014) and an understanding of the development of these pathways may aid in elucidating our understanding of the development and etiology of these disorders as well as to create related diagnostic technologies.…”

Neocortical Gray Matter Volume in First-Episode Schizophrenia and First-Episode Affective Psychosis: A Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal MRI Study

“…In previous cross-sectional comparisons, the majority of both manually delineated region of interest (ROI) (3) and voxel-based morphometry (VBM) (8)(9)(10)(11)) studies indicate smaller gray matter (GM) volumes in frontal and temporal neocortex and in limbic regions. In affective psychosis, manual ROI (12) and VBM (13,14) studies indicate deficits in frontal neocortex and limbic regions, although findings are inconsistent (15,16). Automated tissue segmentation of whole brain revealed smaller overall volume of supratentorial GM, including subcortical GM, in schizophrenia (17)(18)(19)(20).…”