Clinical Research
Changes of cortical thickness and cortical surface area in patients with bipolar depression
Zhao Ke, Liu Haiyan, Yan Rui, Tang Hao, Chen Yu, Shi Jiabo, Yao Zhijian
Published 2017-01-20
Cite as Chin J Behav Med & Brain Sci, 2017,26(1): 22-26. DOI: 10.3760/cma.j.issn.1674-6554.2017.01.005
Abstract
ObjectiveTo investigate the changes of cortical thickness and surface area in patients with bipolar depression(BD), and to explore the relationship between abnormal changes in gray matter and clinical symptoms.
Methods28 BD patients and 28 healthy controls underwent T1-weighted MRI. The Freesurfer software was used to process the T1 images, which used a set of automated sequences to analyze cortical thickness and surface area on 66 regions (33 regions of each hemisphere), and the correlation with clinical features was also calculated.
ResultsCompared with controls, BD patients showed thinner cortical thickness in left medial orbitofrontal cortex((2.40±0.12)mm vs (2.55±0.18)mm, P=1.2×10-3) and left rostral anterior cingulate((2.66±0.21)mm vs (2.88±0.27)mm, P=3.1×10-4), and smaller area of left cuneus((1 443.13±131.00)mm2vs (6 634.70±600.16)mm2, P=2.7×10-4)and right superior frontal gyrus((6 634.70±600.16)mm2vs (7 300.50±653.39)mm2, P=1.3×10-3). In addition, the negatively correlation was found between the cortical area of left cuneus and effective illness duration (r=-0.471, P=0.018), and the cortical thickness in left rostral anterior cingulate and total score of HAMD-17(17-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression)(r=-0.508, P=0.009).
ConclusionThere are abnormal altertion of cortical thickness and cortical areas of emotional circuit in bipolar depression, but the brain areas are not completely overlapping. Correlation analysis suggests that cortical thickness and area is related to different clinical features.
Key words:
Bipolar disorder; Cortical thickness; Cortical area; Structural MRI
Contributor Information
Zhao Ke
Department of Psychiatry, Affiliated Nanjing Brain Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210029, China
Liu Haiyan
Department of Psychiatry, Affiliated Nanjing Brain Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210029, China
Yan Rui
Department of Psychiatry, Affiliated Nanjing Brain Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210029, China
Tang Hao
Department of Psychiatry, Affiliated Nanjing Brain Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210029, China
Chen Yu
Department of Psychiatry, Affiliated Nanjing Brain Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210029, China
Shi Jiabo
Department of Psychiatry, Affiliated Nanjing Brain Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210029, China
Yao Zhijian
Department of Psychiatry, Affiliated Nanjing Brain Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210029, China