QIMR Berghofer

No Alterations of Brain Structural Asymmetry in Major Depressive Disorder: An ENIGMA Consortium Analysis.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Asymmetry is a subtle but pervasive aspect of the human brain, and it may be altered in several psychiatric conditions. MRI studies have shown subtle differences of brain anatomy between people with major depressive disorder and healthy control subjects, but few studies have specifically examined brain anatomical asymmetry in relation to this disorder, and results from those studies have remained inconclusive. At the functional level, some electroencephalography studies have indicated left fronto-cortical hypoactivity and right parietal hypoactivity in depressive disorders, so aspects of lateralized anatomy may also be affected. The authors used pooled individual-level data from data sets collected around the world to investigate differences in laterality in measures of cortical thickness, cortical surface area, and subcortical volume between individuals with major depression and healthy control subjects. METHODS: -weighted MRI data were processed with a single protocol using FreeSurfer and the Desikan-Killiany atlas. The large sample size provided 80% power to detect effects of the order of Cohen's d=0.1. RESULTS: The largest effect size (Cohen's d) of major depression diagnosis was 0.085 for the thickness asymmetry of the superior temporal cortex, which was not significant after adjustment for multiple testing. Asymmetry measures were not significantly associated with medication use, acute compared with remitted status, first episode compared with recurrent status, or age at onset. CONCLUSIONS: Altered brain macro-anatomical asymmetry may be of little relevance to major depression etiology in most cases.

Authors de Kovel, Carolien G F; Aftanas, Lyubomir; Aleman, André; Alexander-Bloch, Aaron F; Baune, Bernhard T; Brack, Ivan; Bülow, Robin; Busatto Filho, Geraldo; Carballedo, Angela; Connolly, Colm G; Cullen, Kathryn R; Dannlowski, Udo; Davey, Christopher G; Dima, Danai; Dohm, Katharina; Erwin-Grabner, Tracy; Frodl, Thomas; Fu, Cynthia H Y; Hall, Geoffrey B; Glahn, David C; Godlewska, Beata; Gotlib, Ian H; Goya-Maldonado, Roberto; Grabe, Hans Jörgen; Groenewold, Nynke A; Grotegerd, Dominik; Gruber, Oliver; Harris, Mathew A; Harrison, Ben J; Hatton, Sean N; Hickie, Ian B; Ho, Tiffany C; Jahanshad, Neda; Kircher, Tilo; Krämer, Bernd; Krug, Axel; Lagopoulos, Jim; Leehr, Elisabeth J; Li, Meng; MacMaster, Frank P; MacQueen, Glenda; McIntosh, Andrew M; McLellan, Quinn; Medland, Sarah E; Mueller, Bryon A; Nenadic, Igor; Osipov, Evgeny; Papmeyer, Martina; Portella, Maria J; Reneman, Liesbeth; Rosa, Pedro G P; Sacchet, Matthew D; Schnell, Knut; Schrantee, Anouk; Sim, Kang; Simulionyte, Egle; Sindermann, Lisa; Singh, Aditya; Stein, Dan J; Ubani, Benjamin N; Van der Wee, Nic J A; Van der Werff, Steven J A; Veer, Ilya M; Vives-Gilabert, Yolanda; Völzke, Henry; Walter, Henrik; Walter, Martin; Schreiner, Melinda Westlund; Whalley, Heather; Winter, Nils; Wittfeld, Katharina; Yang, Tony T; Yüksel, Dilara; Zaremba, Dario; Thompson, Paul M; Veltman, Dick J; Schmaal, Lianne; Francks, Clyde
Journal The American journal of psychiatry
Pages appiajp201918101144
Volume 176
Date 1/07/2019
Grant ID 104036/Z/14/Z
Funding Body Wellcome Trust
URL http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=10.1176/appi.ajp.2019.18101144
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