Differences in prefrontal, limbic, and white matter lesion volumes according to cognitive status in elderly patients with first-onset subsyndromal depression

• Published in: PloS one 2014-01, Vol.9 (1), p.e87747-e87747
• Main Authors: Lee, Jun-Young, Park, Soowon, Mackin, Scott, Ewers, Michael, Chui, Helena, Jagust, William, Insel, Philip S, Weiner, Michael W
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Activities of daily living; Advertising executives; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Alzheimer Disease - pathology; Alzheimer Disease - physiopathology; Alzheimer Disease - psychology; Alzheimer's disease; Behavioral sciences; Biology; Bipolar disorder; Brain; Brain damage; Cognition; Cognitive ability; Cortex; Cross-Sectional Studies; Dementia; Depression (Mood disorder); Depression - pathology; Depression - physiopathology; Depression - psychology; Elderly patients; Family medical history; Female; Geriatrics; Humans; Lesions; Limbic System - pathology; Limbic System - physiopathology; Male; Medical imaging; Medical research; Medicine; Mental depression; Neurodegenerative diseases; NMR; Nuclear magnetic resonance; Older people; Patients; Psychiatry; Psychological aspects; Social and Behavioral Sciences; Stroke; Studies; Substantia alba; Substantia grisea; Veterans
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0087747

The purpose of this preliminary study was to test the hypothesis that subsyndromal depression is associated with the volume of medial prefrontal regional gray matter and that of white matter lesions (WMLs) in the brains of cognitively normal older people. We also explored the relationships between subsyndromal depression and medial prefrontal regional gray matter volume, limbic regional gray matter volume, and lobar WMLs in the brains of patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer's disease (AD). We performed a cross-sectional study comparing patients with subsyndromal depression and nondepressed controls with normal cognition (n = 59), MCI (n = 27), and AD (n = 27), adjusting for sex, age, years of education, and results of the Mini-Mental State Examination. Frontal WML volume was greater, and right medial orbitofrontal cortical volume was smaller in cognitively normal participants with subsyndromal depression than in those without subsyndromal depression. No volume differences were observed in medial prefrontal, limbic, or WML volumes according to the presence of subsyndromal depression in cognitively impaired patients. The absence of these changes in patients with MCI and AD suggests that brain changes associated with AD pathology may override the changes associated with subsyndromal depression.