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Alteration of brainstem raphe measured by transcranial sonography in depression patients with or without Parkinson’s disease

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Abstract

The purpose of our study was to assess the alteration of the brainstem raphe (BR) on transcranial sonography (TCS) in depression patients with or without Parkinson’s disease (PD) and to explore whether the different changes of BR could reflect an increasing impairment of raphe structures. TCS was performed in patients with PD, depression with PD, depression only, and controls. Using the red nucleus as an internal standard, the BR was rated semi-quantitatively from grades 1–4 with grades 1–3 determined as abnormal. The rate of abnormal BR (≤grade 3) was found to be only 10 % in patients with PD (4/40) and 5 % in control patients (2/40). The rate of abnormal raphe was significantly higher (p < 0.05) in patients with both depression and PD (85 %, 34/40) or patients with depression only (87.5 %, 35/40). TCS of the raphe in most patients with mild depression scored grade 3, while those with moderate depression scored grade 2–3, and those with severe depression scored grade 1. The different BR echogenicity score reflected an increasing impairment of raphe structures in depression patients with or without PD (p < 0.05). TCS provides a good tool for assessing depression, more severe depressive symptoms were associated with different aspects in TCS studies.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by grants from the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Institutions, Jiangsu Provincial Special Program of Medical Science (BL2014042), Suzhou Science and Technology Development Program (SZS201205), Suzhou Clinical Key Disease Diagnosis and Treatment Technology Foundation (LCZX201304), and Suzhou city science and technology development plan (SZ2012089).

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Department of Ultrasound, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, China

      Ying Chun Zhang, Yu Jing Sheng, Xiao Fang Chen, Li Fang Yu & Ying Zhang

    2. Department of Psychiatry, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, China

      Hua Hu

    3. Department of Neurology, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Institute of Neuroscience Soochow University, 1055 Sanxiang Road, 215004, Suzhou, China

      Wei Feng Luo, Cheng Jie Mao, Kang Ping Xiong & Chun Feng Liu

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    1. Ying Chun Zhang
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    Y. C. Zhang and H. Hu contributed equally to this study and share first authorship.

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    Zhang, Y.C., Hu, H., Luo, W.F. et al. Alteration of brainstem raphe measured by transcranial sonography in depression patients with or without Parkinson’s disease. Neurol Sci 37, 45–50 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10072-015-2350-7

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