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The Journal of Neuroscience, June 15, 1999, 19(12):5034-5043
Depression Duration But Not Age Predicts Hippocampal Volume Loss
in Medically Healthy Women with Recurrent Major Depression
Yvette I.
Sheline1, 2, 3,
Milan
Sanghavi1,
Mark A.
Mintun1, 2, 3, and
Mokhtar H.
Gado2, 3
Departments of 1 Psychiatry and 2 Radiology
2 and the 3 Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology,
Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri 63110
This study takes advantage of continuing advances in the precision
of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to quantify hippocampal volumes in
a series of human subjects with a history of depression compared with
controls. We sought to test the hypothesis that both age and duration
of past depression would be inversely and independently correlated with
hippocampal volume. A sample of 24 women ranging in age from 23 to 86 years with a history of recurrent major depression, but no medical
comorbidity, and 24 case-matched controls underwent MRI
scanning. Subjects with a history of depression (post-depressed)
had smaller hippocampal volumes bilaterally than controls.
Post-depressives also had smaller amygdala core nuclei volumes, and
these volumes correlated with hippocampal volumes. In addition,
post-depressives scored lower in verbal memory, a neuropsychological
measure of hippocampal function, suggesting that the volume loss was
related to an aspect of cognitive functioning. In contrast, there was
no difference in overall brain size or general intellectual
performance. Contrary to our initial hypothesis, there was no
significant correlation between hippocampal volume and age in either
post-depressive or control subjects, whereas there was a significant
correlation with total lifetime duration of depression. This suggests
that repeated stress during recurrent depressive episodes may result in
cumulative hippocampal injury as reflected in volume loss.
Key words:
hippocampus; depression; age; amygdala; magnetic
resonance imaging; MRI; glucocorticoids; neurotoxicity; stereology
Copyright © 1999 Society for Neuroscience 0270-6474/99/19125034-10$05.00/0
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