Decrease in somatostatin-positive cell density in the amygdala of females with major depression: Douillard-Guilloux et al.
Open accessAbstract
BACKGROUND: Somatostatin (SST) is a neuropeptide expressed in a subtype of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) interneurons that target the dendrites of pyramidal neurons. We previously reported reduced levels of SST gene and protein expression in the postmortem amygdala of subjects with major depressive disorder (MDD). This reduction was specific to female subjects with MDD. METHODS: Here, we used in situ hybridization to examine the regional and cellular patterns of reductions in SST expression in a cohort of female MDD subjects with known SST deficits in the amygdala (N = 10/group). RESULTS: We report a significant reduction in the density of SST-labeled neurons in the lateral, basolateral, and basomedial nuclei of the amygdala of MDD subjects compared to controls. SST mRNA levels per neuron did not differ between MDD and control subjects in the lateral or basolateral nuclei, but were lower in the basomedial nucleus. There was no difference in cross-sectional density of total cells. CONCLUSIONS: In summary, we report an MDD-related reduction in the density of detectable SST-positive neurons across several nuclei in the amygdala, with a reduction in SST mRNA per cell restricted to the basomedial nucleus. In the absence of changes in total cell density, these results suggest the possibility of a change in SST cell phenotype rather than cell death in the amygdala of female MDD subjects.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
It shows imbalance in cortical-subcortical limbic regions with decreased GABAergic signaling and increased glutamatergic signaling.
“It shows the imbalance in cortical-subcortical limbic regions with decreased GABAergic signaling and increased glutamatergic signaling. 210 , 211”
From Major depressive disorder: hypothesis, mechanism, prevention and treatment (2024) · cites this paper as [210]
The Discussion (Effects of reduced SST on local and amygdala circuitry; page unavailable) proposes an excitation–inhibition imbalance in the amygdala and says reduced GABA-related transcripts suggest reduced inhibition in females with major depression. It explicitly says reduced GABA signaling was not established by this study, and it does not report increased glutamatergic signaling. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
The citation lists haven’t been fetched yet
References 34 · Cited by 49
- Authors
- Douillard-Guilloux, G., Lewis, D., Seney, M. L., & Sibille, E.
- Affiliations
- Department of Psychiatry; University of Pittsburgh Medical School; Pittsburgh PA USA
- University of Pittsburgh (US)
- Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Seney, Marianne L.
- Venue
- Depression and Anxiety
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2016-08-24
- Volume
- 34
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 68-78
- ISSN
- 1091-4269 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC5222785
- OpenAlex
- W2512833929
- Cited by
- 49
- References
- 34
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 3
- FWCI
- 2.62
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Depression and Anxiety (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Mental Health (MH077159, MH103473)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neuropeptides and Animal Physiology
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pharmacology › Treatment of Major Depression
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
- Keywords
- somatostatin, major depressive disorder, amygdala, GABAergic interneurons, lateral amygdala, basolateral amygdala, sex differences, postmortem brain, neuronal phenotype
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Amygdala, Autopsy, Cell Count, Major Depressive Disorder, Female, Humans, Middle Aged, Somatostatin, GABAergic Neurons
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
