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Sullivan-Toole H, Jobson KR, Hoffman LJ, Stewart LC, Olson IR, Olino TM. Adolescents at risk for depression show increased white matter microstructure with age across diffuse areas of the brain. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2023; 64:101307. [PMID: 37813039 PMCID: PMC10570597 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2023.101307] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/03/2023] [Revised: 08/22/2023] [Accepted: 09/23/2023] [Indexed: 10/11/2023] Open
Abstract
Maternal history of depression is a strong predictor of depression in offspring and linked to structural and functional alterations in the developing brain. However, very little work has examined differences in white matter in adolescents at familial risk for depression. In a sample aged 9-14 (n = 117), we used tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) to examine differences in white matter microstructure between adolescents with (n = 42) and without (n = 75) maternal history of depression. Microstructure was indexed using fractional anisotropy (FA). Threshold-free cluster enhancement was applied and cluster maps were thresholded at whole-brain family-wise error < .05. There was no significant main effect of risk status on FA. However, there was a significant interaction between risk status and age, such that large and diffuse portions of the white matter skeleton showed relatively increased FA with age for youth with a maternal history of depression compared to those without. Most tracts identified by the interaction were robust to controlling for sex, youth internalizing, in-scanner motion, neighborhood SES, and intra-cranial volume, evidence that maternal depression is a unique predictor of white matter alterations in youth. Widespread increases in FA with age may correspond to a global pattern of accelerated brain maturation in youth at risk for depression.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Katie R Jobson
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Temple University, USA
| | - Linda J Hoffman
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Temple University, USA
| | | | - Ingrid R Olson
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Temple University, USA
| | - Thomas M Olino
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Temple University, USA
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Goldsmith DR, Bekhbat M, Mehta ND, Felger JC. Inflammation-Related Functional and Structural Dysconnectivity as a Pathway to Psychopathology. Biol Psychiatry 2023; 93:405-418. [PMID: 36725140 PMCID: PMC9895884 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2022.11.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 29.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/29/2022] [Revised: 10/28/2022] [Accepted: 11/02/2022] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Abstract
Findings from numerous laboratories and across neuroimaging modalities have consistently shown that exogenous administration of cytokines or inflammatory stimuli that induce cytokines disrupts circuits and networks involved in motivation and motor activity, threat detection, anxiety, and interoceptive and emotional processing. While inflammatory effects on neural circuits and relevant behaviors may represent adaptive responses promoting conservation of energy and heightened vigilance during immune activation, chronically elevated inflammation may contribute to symptoms of psychiatric illnesses. Indeed, biomarkers of inflammation such as cytokines and acute phase reactants are reliably elevated in a subset of patients with unipolar or bipolar depression, anxiety-related disorders, and schizophrenia and have been associated with differential treatment responses and poor clinical outcomes. A growing body of literature also describes higher levels of endogenous inflammatory markers and altered, typically lower functional or structural connectivity within these circuits in association with transdiagnostic symptoms such as anhedonia and anxiety in psychiatric and at-risk populations. This review presents recent evidence that inflammation and its effects on the brain may serve as one molecular and cellular mechanism of dysconnectivity within anatomically and/or functionally connected cortical and subcortical regions in association with transdiagnostic symptoms. We also discuss the need to establish reproducible methods to assess inflammation-associated dysconnectivity in relation to behavior for use in translational studies or biomarker-driven clinical trials for novel pharmacological or behavioral interventions targeting inflammation or its effects on the brain.
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Affiliation(s)
- David R Goldsmith
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia
| | - Mandakh Bekhbat
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia
| | - Neeti D Mehta
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia; Neuroscience Graduate Program, Graduate Division of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia
| | - Jennifer C Felger
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia; Winship Cancer Institute, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia.
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Sammer G, Neumann E, Blecker C, Pedraz-Petrozzi B. Fractional anisotropy and peripheral cytokine concentrations in outpatients with depressive episode: a diffusion tensor imaging observational study. Sci Rep 2022; 12:17450. [PMID: 36261698 PMCID: PMC9582033 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-22437-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/16/2022] [Accepted: 10/14/2022] [Indexed: 01/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Over the past few years, evidence of a positive relationship between inflammation and depression has grown steadily. The aim of the current study was to investigate whether such depression-related inflammation could also be associated with altered microstructural changes in the white matter. FA and serum cytokines (IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α, and IFN-γ) were measured in 25 patients with depression (DE) and 24 healthy controls (HC). Diffusion tensor imaging was performed. Fractional anisotropy (FA) was calculated using the FSL pipeline for Tract-Based Spatial Statistics (TBSS). Both voxelwise and mean whole-brain FA were analyzed using general linear models (GLM). Higher concentrations of IL-1β were associated with lower whole-brain fractional anisotropy, particularly in people with depression (ρ = - 0.67; p < 0.001). TNF-α shared some variance with IL-1β and also showed a negative relationship between TNF-α concentrations and FA in depression (F1,46 = 11.13, p = 0.002, η2p = 0.21). In detail, the voxelwise analysis showed that the regression slopes of IL-1β on FA were more negative in the DE group than in the HC group, mainly in the corpus callosum (cluster statistics: genu corpus callosum, p = 0.022; splenium of corpus callosum, p = 0.047). Similar effects were not found for the other remaining cytokines. This study clearly demonstrated an association between peripherally measured IL-1β and white matter integrity in depression as assessed by DTI. The results suggest that microstructural changes in the corpus callosum are associated with increased peripheral IL-1β concentrations in depression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gebhard Sammer
- grid.8664.c0000 0001 2165 8627Psychiatry, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Klinikstrasse 36, 35392 Giessen, Hessen Germany ,grid.8664.c0000 0001 2165 8627Faculty of Psychology and Sports Science, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Giessen, Hessen Germany ,grid.8664.c0000 0001 2165 8627Bender Institute of Neuroimaging (BION), Faculty of Psychology and Sports Science, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Giessen, Hessen Germany
| | - Elena Neumann
- grid.8664.c0000 0001 2165 8627Internal Medicine and Rheumatology, Campus Kerckhoff, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Giessen, Hessen Germany
| | - Carlo Blecker
- grid.8664.c0000 0001 2165 8627Faculty of Psychology and Sports Science, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Giessen, Hessen Germany ,grid.8664.c0000 0001 2165 8627Bender Institute of Neuroimaging (BION), Faculty of Psychology and Sports Science, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Giessen, Hessen Germany
| | - Bruno Pedraz-Petrozzi
- grid.413757.30000 0004 0477 2235Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim, Germany
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Zheng H, Teague TK, Yeh FC, Burrows K, Figueroa-Hall LK, Aupperle RL, Khalsa SS, Paulus MP, Savitz J. C-Reactive protein and the kynurenic acid to quinolinic acid ratio are independently associated with white matter integrity in major depressive disorder. Brain Behav Immun 2022; 105:180-189. [PMID: 35853557 PMCID: PMC9983279 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbi.2022.07.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/20/2022] [Revised: 07/01/2022] [Accepted: 07/14/2022] [Indexed: 02/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Kynurenic acid (KynA) and quinolinic acid (QA) are neuroactive kynurenine pathway (KP) metabolites that have neuroprotective and neurotoxic properties, respectively. At least partly as a result of immune activation, the ratio of KynA to QA in the blood is reduced in major depressive disorder (MDD) and has been reported to be positively correlated with gray matter volume in depression. This study examined whether the inflammatory mediator, C-reactive protein (CRP) and the putative neuroprotective index, KynA/QA, were associated with white matter integrity in MDD, and secondly, whether any such associations were independent of each other or whether the effect of CRP was mediated by KynA/QA. One hundred and sixty-six participants in the Tulsa 1000 study with a DSM-V diagnosis of MDD completed diffusion tensor imaging and provided a serum sample for the quantification of CRP, KynA, and QA. Correlational tractography was performed using DSI Studio to map the specific white matter pathways that correlated with CRP and KynA/QA. CRP was negatively related to KynA/QA (standardized beta coefficient, SBC = -0.35 with standard error, Std.E = 0.13, p < 0.01) after controlling for nine possible confounders, i.e., age, sex, body mass index (BMI), medication status, lifetime alcohol use, severity of depression, severity of anxiety, length of illness, and smoking status. Higher concentrations of CRP were associated with decreased white matter integrity (fractional anisotropy, FA) of the bilateral cingulum and fornix after controlling for the nine potential confounders (SBC = -0.43, Std.E = 0.13, p = 0.002). Greater serum KynA/QA was associated with increased white matter integrity of the bilateral fornix, bilateral superior thalamic radiations, corpus callosum, and bilateral cingulum bundles after controlling for the same possible confounders (SBC = 0.26, Std.E = 0.09, p = 0.005). The relationship between CRP and FA was not mediated by KynA/QA. Exploratory analyses also showed that KynA/QA but not CRP was associated with self-reported positive affect, attentiveness, and fatigue measured with the PANASX (SBCs = 0.17-0.23). Taken together, these results are consistent with the hypothesis that within a subgroup of MDD patients, a higher level of systemic inflammation alters the balance of KP metabolism but also raise the possibility that CRP and neuroactive KP metabolites represent independent molecular mechanisms underlying white matter alterations in MDD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Haixia Zheng
- Laureate Institute for Brain Research, Tulsa, OK 74136, USA
| | - T Kent Teague
- Department of Surgery, University of Oklahoma School of Community Medicine, Tulsa, OK 74135, USA; Department of Psychiatry, University of Oklahoma School of Community Medicine, Tulsa, OK 74135, USA; Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences, Tulsa, OK 74107, USA
| | - Fang-Cheng Yeh
- Department of Neurological Surgery, School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA
| | | | | | - Robin L Aupperle
- Laureate Institute for Brain Research, Tulsa, OK 74136, USA; Oxley College of Health Sciences, The University of Tulsa, Tulsa, OK 74119, USA
| | - Sahib S Khalsa
- Laureate Institute for Brain Research, Tulsa, OK 74136, USA; Oxley College of Health Sciences, The University of Tulsa, Tulsa, OK 74119, USA
| | - Martin P Paulus
- Laureate Institute for Brain Research, Tulsa, OK 74136, USA; Oxley College of Health Sciences, The University of Tulsa, Tulsa, OK 74119, USA
| | - Jonathan Savitz
- Laureate Institute for Brain Research, Tulsa, OK 74136, USA; Oxley College of Health Sciences, The University of Tulsa, Tulsa, OK 74119, USA.
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