Psychiatry research. Neuroimaging
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Psychiatry Res Neuroimaging · Oct 2017
Brain structural changes in late-life generalized anxiety disorder.
Late-life Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is relatively understudied and the underlying structural and functional neuroanatomy has received little attention. In this study, we compare the brain structural characteristics in white and gray matter in 31 non-anxious older adults and 28 late-life GAD participants. Gray matter indices (cortical thickness and volume) were measured using FreeSurfer parcellation and segmentation, and mean diffusivity was obtained through Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI). ⋯ The results did not survive the multiple comparison correction, but the effect sizes indicate a moderate effect. The study suggests that late-life GAD is associated with gray matter changes in areas involved in emotion regulation, more so than with white matter changes. We conclude that anxiety-related chronic hypercortisolemia may have a dissociative effect on gray and white matter integrity.
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Psychiatry Res Neuroimaging · Oct 2017
Childhood maltreatment is associated with gray matter volume abnormalities in patients with first-episode depression.
Previous neuroimaging studies suggest that childhood maltreatment (CM) can affect brain function and structure and constitutes a potent risk of developing depression. The present study attempts to differentiate the effect of CM from the impact of depression diagnosis on brain structure. Eighty-four patients with first-episode depression and 84 controls participated in this study. ⋯ The CM severity was negatively related with the inferior occipital volume and positively with volumes in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, right caudate, and left middle temporal gyrus. This study suggested that early life stress like CM is associated with structural abnormalities of the fronto-limbic regions that are commonly regarded as the psychopathological consequence of depression. The effect of CM on brain structure should be considered in future neuroimaging research of depression.