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Abstract #4372

Regional Gray Matter Changes in Major Depressive Disorder: An Optimized Voxel-Based Morphometry Study

Zhiyun Jia1, Tijiang Zhang1, Qizhu Wu1, Junran Zhang1, Su Lu1, Xiaoqi Huang1, Weihong Kuang2, Qiyong Gong1

1Huaxi MR Research Center (HMRRC), Department of Radiology, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan provice, China; 2Department of Psychiatry, West China Hospital of Sichuan University


High resolution 3-dimensional T1-weighted (T1W) images were acquired using a 3.0T MR scanner in fifty two patients experiencing major depression (MDD) and fifty two normal controls. Using voxel based morphometry (VBM), we demonstrated that MDD patients have higher volume and density of grey matter in multiple brain areas than controls, especially in bilateral thalamus. This is consistent with a previous postmortem study which demonstrated increased neuronal number in the thalamus of patients with depression relative to the nonpsychiatric comparison subjects. Further study should reveal this change in thalamus using multiple methods.