Stuke, Heiner and Hanken, Katrin and Hirsch, Jochen and Klein, Jan and Wittig, Fabian and Kastrup, Andreas and Hildebrandt, Helmut (2016) Cross-sectional and longitudinal relationships between depressive symptoms and brain atrophy in MS patients. Frontiers in human neuroscience, 10 (622). ISSN 1662-5161

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Abstract

Depressive symptoms are a frequent and distressing phenomenon in Multiple Sclerosis (MS) patients. Cross-sectional research links these symptoms to reduced brain gray matter volumes in parts of the prefrontal and temporal lobe as well as subcortical structures like the hippocampus, nucleus caudatus and globus pallidus. Nevertheless, prospective relationships between regional gray matter volume and the course of depressive symptoms are poorly understood. Forty-four patients with relapsing–remitting or secondary progressive MS participated in a prospective study with two assessments of depressive symptoms and high-resolution MRI with an inter-test-interval of 17 months. Relationships between baseline gray matter volume and baseline depressive symptoms, as well as prospective associations between the development of atrophy and depression were assessed using voxel-based morphometry (VBM). Cross-sectional analyses revealed an association between depressive symptoms and gray matter loss in the left temporal lobe. Prospective analysis showed that gray matter losses in the right middle cingulate and middle frontal gyrus at baseline predicted increasing depressive symptoms during follow-up. Increase in depressive symptoms was related to a concomitant increase in atrophy in the left thalamus and right globus pallidus. Our results fit well into the concept of a disturbed cortico–striatal–pallido–thalamic loop in depression. In this framework, progressive gray matter loss in limbic basal ganglia structures including globus pallidus and thalamus may lead to depression-typical deficits in hedonic motivation, whereas atrophy of the prefrontal cortex may contribute to maladaptive coping strategies, promoting an unfavorable development of depressive symptoms.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Publiziert mit Hilfe des DFG-geförderten Open Access-Publikationsfonds der Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg.
Uncontrolled Keywords:	multiple sclerosis, depression, structural MRI, prediction, prospective study
Subjects:	Philosophy and psychology > Psychology Technology, medicine, applied sciences > Medicine and health
Divisions:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Department of Psychology
Date Deposited:	20 Sep 2017 08:23
Last Modified:	15 Dec 2017 09:17
URI:	https://oops.uni-oldenburg.de/id/eprint/3270
URN:	urn:nbn:de:gbv:715-oops-33517
DOI:	10.3389/fnhum.2016.00622
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