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Grey matter volume abnormalities in patients with bipolar I depressive disorder and unipolar depressive disorder: a voxel-based morphometry study

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Abstract

Bipolar disorder and unipolar depressive disorder (UD) may be different in brain structure. In the present study, we performed voxel-based morphometry (VBM) to quantify the grey matter volumes in 23 patients with bipolar I depressive disorder (BP1) and 23 patients with UD, and 23 age-, gender-, and education-matched healthy controls (HCs) using magnetic resonance imaging. We found that compared with the HC and UD groups, the BP1 group showed reduced grey matter volumes in the right inferior frontal gyrus and middle cingulate gyrus, while the UD group showed reduced volume in the right inferior frontal gyrus compared to HCs. In addition, correlation analyses revealed that the grey matter volumes of these regions were negatively correlated with the Hamilton depression rating scores. Taken together, the results of our study suggest that decreased grey matter volume of the right inferior frontal gyrus is a common abnormality in BP1 and UD, and decreased grey matter volume in the right middle cingulate gyrus may be specific to BP1.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mental Health Institute of the Second Xiangya Hospital, National Technology Institute of Psychiatry Key Laboratory of Psychiatry and Mental Health of Hunan Province, Central South University, Changsha, 410011, China

    Yi Cai, Li Zhang, Mei Liao, Yan Zhang, Lifeng Wang, Hongjun Peng, Zexuan Li, Weihui Li, Shaojia Lu, Yuqiang Ding & Lingjiang Li

  2. Department of Radiology, the Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, 410011, China

    Jun Liu & Zhong He

  3. Department of Mental Health and Psychiatry, Brain Hospital of Hunan Province, Changsha, 410007, China

    Yi Cai

  4. Hunan University of Chinese Medicine Clinical Medical College, Changsha, 410007, China

    Yi Cai

  5. Guangzhou Psychiatric Hospital, Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical College, Guangzhou, 510370, China

    Hongjun Peng

  6. Key Laboratory of Arrhythmias, Ministry of Education, East Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai, 200092, China

    Yuqiang Ding

  7. Shenzhen Kangning Hospital of Guangdong Province, Shenzhen, 518003, China

    Lingjiang Li

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  1. Yi Cai
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  2. Jun Liu
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  3. Li Zhang
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  5. Yan Zhang
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Cai, Y., Liu, J., Zhang, L. et al. Grey matter volume abnormalities in patients with bipolar I depressive disorder and unipolar depressive disorder: a voxel-based morphometry study. Neurosci. Bull. 31, 4–12 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12264-014-1485-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12264-014-1485-5

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