Structural MRI correlates for vulnerability and resilience to major depressive disorder
Open accessAbstract
BACKGROUND: In major depressive disorder (MDD), it is unclear to what extent structural brain changes are associated with depressive episodes or represent part of the mechanism by which the risk for illness is mediated. The aim of this study was to investigate whether structural abnormalities are related to risk for the development of MDD. METHODS: We compared healthy controls with a positive family history for MDD (HC-FHP), healthy controls with no family history of any psychiatric disease (HC-FHN) and patients with MDD. Groups were age- and sex-matched. We analyzed data from high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging using voxel-based morphometry. We performed small volume corrections for our regions of interest (hippocampus, dorsolateral [DLPFC] and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex [DMPFC], anterior cingulate cortex [ACC] and basal ganglia) using a family-wise error correction (p < 0.05) to control for multiple comparisons. RESULTS: There were 30 participants in the HC-FHP group, 64 in the HC-FHN group and 33 patients with MDD. The HC-FHP group had smaller right hippocampal and DLPFC grey matter volumes compared with the HC-FHN group, and even smaller right hippocampal volumes compared with patients with MDD. In addition, the HC-FHP group exhibited smaller white matter volumes in the DLPFC and left putamen but also greater volumes in 2 areas of the DMPFC compared with the HC-FHN group. Patients with MDD exhibited smaller volumes in the ACC, DMPFC, DLPFC and the basal ganglia compared with healthy controls. LIMITATIONS: The retrospective identification of family history might result in a bias toward unidentified participants in the control group at risk for MDD, diminishing the effect size. CONCLUSION: Volume reductions in the hippocampus and DLPFC might be associated with a greater risk for MDD. The HC-FHP group had smaller hippocampal volumes compared with patients with MDD, which is suggestive for neuroplastic effects of treatment. The HC-FHP group had not yet experienced a depressive episode and therefore might have been resilient and might have had some protective strategies. Whether resilience is associated with the larger white matter volumes in the DMPFC (e.g., owing to compensatory, neuroplastic remodelling mechanisms) needs to be confirmed in future studies.
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Some studies indicate that these structural changes may represent a pre-existing vulnerability to a major depressive episode, especially in people with particular genetic profiles or early life stress histories.
“several other studies have found that these structural changes may reflect a pre-existing vulnerability to a MDE, particularly for individuals with certain genetic profiles and/or early life stress (ELS) histories (39–45).”
From The Impact of Stress and Major Depressive Disorder on Hippocampal and Medial Prefrontal Cortex Morphology (2019) · cites this paper as [41]
People without depression but with a family history of it tend to have smaller hippocampal and DLPFC volumes than those without such history.
“healthy patients with a positive family history of depression being more likely to have decreased hippocampal and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) volumes compared to a control group with no family history (Amico et al., 2011)”
From A Review of the Relationship between Proinflammatory Cytokines and Major Depressive Disorder (2014) · cites this paper as Amico et al., 2011
In the same study, MDD patients had smaller volumes in the anterior cingulate, dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, and basal ganglia.
“MDD subjects also exhibited decreased anterior cingulated cortex, dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (DMPFC), and basal ganglia volumes”
From A Review of the Relationship between Proinflammatory Cytokines and Major Depressive Disorder (2014) · cites this paper as Amico et al., 2011
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References 67 · Cited by 256
Research works printed but not linked: 3
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- Authors
- Amico, F.
- Affiliations
- Trinity College Dublin (IE)
- Corresponding author
- Amico, Francesco
- ORCID
- Amico, Francesco
- Venue
- Journal of Psychiatry & Neuroscience
- Publisher
- Canadian Science Publishing
- Published
- 2011-01-01
- Volume
- 36
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 15-22
- ISSN
- 1180-4882 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3004971
- OpenAlex
- W2098894213
- Cited by
- 256
- References
- 67
- Citations by year
- 2026: 10 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 29 · 2020: 46 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 21 · 2017: 11 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 21 · 2014: 21 · 2013: 18 · 2012: 20
- FWCI
- 11.50
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion)
- Lenus, The Irish Health Repository (Dr Steevens Hospital Library) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pharmacology › Treatment of Major Depression
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Functional Brain Connectivity Studies
- Keywords
- major depressive disorder, family history of depression, hippocampal volume, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, basal ganglia, white matter volume, gray matter volume, brain structural changes, depression vulnerability, resilience, neuroplasticity, voxel-based morphometry
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Atrophy, Basal Ganglia, Brain Mapping, Major Depressive Disorder, Family Health, Female, Gyrus Cinguli, Hippocampus, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Nerve Fibers, Myelinated, Prefrontal Cortex, Nerve Fibers, Unmyelinated, Resilience, Psychological
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