Journal of affective disorders
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Deep brain stimulation (DBS) represents an alternative symptomatic treatment for major depressive disorder in case of failure of pharmacotherapy. The sub-genual cingulate-Brodmann area 25 (CG-25), is one of the most widely used targets for electrode implantation. Given the diverging clinical outcome after DBS, there is a pressing need for in-depth study of brain anatomy and function allowing accurate and reliable prognosis before surgery. ⋯ We propose the posterior gyrus rectus as viable alternative new target for DBS in major depressive disorder. High connectivity between target and mPFC supports the pivotal role of this region in brain networks involved in mood processing.
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Hippocampal volume loss is known as the best-replicated finding of structural brain imaging studies on major depressive disorder (MDD). Several evidences suggest localized mechanisms of hippocampal neuroplasticity lead the brain imaging studies on the hippocampus and MDD to perform analyses in the subfield level. The aim of this study was to investigate the differences in total and subfield hippocampal volumes, between medication-naïve female MDD patients and healthy controls, through automated segmentation and volumetric methods. ⋯ We found significant volume reductions in several hippocampal subfield regions in medication-naïve female MDD patients. Our results are consistent with neurobiological evidences on hippocampal neuroplasticity in MDD, and replicate previous findings that suggest morphologic changes of hippocampal subfields in MDD patients.