Reduced hippocampal volume in unmedicated, remitted patients with major depression versus control subjects

• Published in: Biological psychiatry (1969) Vol. 57; no. 8; pp. 935 - 937
• Main Authors: Neumeister, Alexander, Wood, Suzanne, Bonne, Omer, Nugent, Allison C., Luckenbaugh, David A., Young, Theresa, Bain, Earle E., Charney, Dennis S., Drevets, Wayne C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY Elsevier Inc 15.04.2005; Elsevier Science
• Subjects: Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Anatomy; Biological and medical sciences; Central nervous system; Depression; Depressive Disorder, Major - pathology; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; high resolution MRI imaging; hippocampal volume; Hippocampus - pathology; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Major depression; Male; Medical sciences; Mood disorders; morphometry; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Recurrence; Remission, Spontaneous; Vertebrates: nervous system and sense organs; high resolution MRI imaging; morphometry; Major depression; hippocampal volume; Mood disorder; Human; Volumetric analysis; Healthy subject; Depression; Patient; Nuclear magnetic resonance imaging; Morphometry; Comparative study; Hippocampus
• ISSN: 0006-3223; 1873-2402
• DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2005.01.016

Hippocampal volumes obtained from a group of medication-free, remitted subjects with recurrent major depressive disorder (MDD) were compared against corresponding measures from healthy controls. Thirty-one subjects with recurrent MDD in full remission, and 57 healthy controls underwent high resolution magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) on a GE 3T scanner. Eight patients with MDD were medication-naive, and twenty-three MDD patients were off antidepressant medications for a mean of 30 months at the time of the MRI study. Patients showed smaller total and posterior hippocampal volume relative to controls. Anterior hippocampal volume did not differ between patients and controls. Recurrent depression is associated with smaller hippocampal volume which is most prominent in the posterior hippocampus. Smaller hippocampal volume appears to be a trait characteristic for MDD.