Zhiyun Jia1, Xiaoqi Huang1, Tijiang Zhang1, Qizhu Wu1, Su Lui1, Huijie Li2, Nabin Amatya1, Xiuli Li1, Weihong Kuang3, Qiyong Gong1
1Department of Radiology, Huaxi MR Research Center (HMRRC), Chengdu, Sichuan, China; 2Institute of Psychology, Neuropsychology and Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Beijing, China; 3Department of Psychiatry, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
Diffusion tensor imaging was acquired using a 3.0T MR scanner in fifty one patients experiencing major depression (MDD) and fifty two normal controls. MDD exhibited lower FA values than healthy controls in multiple brain regions, and significant negative correlation between the FA value and 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale were found in left caudate head and right insulae, this is the first study to investigate the whole brain abnormalities between the adult MDD and normal controls with relatively large sample size, further evidenced the microstructural white matter abnormalities in cortico-striato-limbic networks in patients with MDD.