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. 2020 Feb;5(2):184-193.
doi: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2019.07.010. Epub 2019 Aug 13.

Ultra-High-Resolution Imaging of Amygdala Subnuclei Structural Connectivity in Major Depressive Disorder

Stephanie S G Brown  1 , John W Rutland  2 , Gaurav Verma  2 , Rebecca E Feldman  2 , Molly Schneider  3 , Bradley N Delman  4 , James M Murrough  5 , Priti Balchandani  2
Affiliations

Ultra-High-Resolution Imaging of Amygdala Subnuclei Structural Connectivity in Major Depressive Disorder

Stephanie S G Brown et al. Biol Psychiatry Cogn Neurosci Neuroimaging. 2020 Feb.

Abstract

Background: Major depressive disorder (MDD) is an increasingly common and disabling illness. As the amygdala has been reported to have pathological involvement in mood disorders, we aimed to investigate for the first time potential changes to structural connectivity of individual amygdala subnuclei in MDD using ultra-high-field 7T diffusion magnetic resonance imaging.

Methods: Twenty-four patients with MDD (11 women) and 24 age-matched healthy control participants (7 women) underwent diffusion-weighted imaging with a 1.05-mm isotropic resolution at 7T. Amygdala nuclei regions of interest were obtained through automated segmentation of 0.69-mm resolution T1-weighted images and 0.35-mm resolution T2-weighted images. Probabilistic tractography was performed on all subjects, with random seeding at each amygdala nucleus.

Results: The right lateral, basal, central, and centrocortical amygdala nuclei exhibited significantly increased connection density to the rest of the brain, whereas the left medial nucleus demonstrated significantly lower connection density (false discovery rate p < .05). Increased connection density in the right lateral and basal nuclei was driven by the stria terminalis, and the significant difference in the right central nucleus was driven by the uncinate fasciculus. Decreased connection density at the left medial nucleus did not appear to be driven by any individual white matter tract.

Conclusions: By exploiting ultra-high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging, structural hyperconnectivity was demonstrated involving the amygdaloid nuclei in the right hemisphere in MDD. To a lesser extent, impairment of subnuclei connectivity was shown in the left hemisphere.

Keywords: 7T; Amygdala; Diffusion MRI; Major depressive disorder; Neuroimaging; Tractography; Ultra-high-field.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest

Dr. Balchandani (the Principal Investigator in this study) is a named inventor on patents relating to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and RF pulse design. The patents have been licensed to GE Healthcare, Siemens AG, and Philips international. Dr. Balchandani receives royalty payments relating to these patents.

In the past 5 years, Dr. Murrough has provided consultation services to Boehreinger Ingelheim, Sage Therapeutics, FSV7, Novartis, Allergan, Fortress Biotech, Janssen Research and Development, Medavante-Prophase and Global Medical Education (GME) and has received research support from Avanir Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

No other authors reported biomedical financial interests or potential conflicts of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
An axial, coronal and sagittal view of probabilistic tractography seeded at all amygdala nuclei combined. White matter tracts reconstructed include: the stria terminalis, the uncinate fasciculus, a subcortical visual pathway passing along the inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus, the amygdalofugal tract and the anterior commissure. The color of streamlines is determined by their directionality.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
Significantly increased streamline density of tracks seeded at the right lateral nucleus, right basal nucleus, right central nucleus and right centrocortical complex in the MDD group compared to controls.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 3.
Significant decrease in streamline density in the MDD group compared to controls in streamlines emanating from the left medial nucleus.
Fig. 4.
Fig. 4.
Isolated white-matter tracts seeded from the amygdala nuclei: a) the stria terminalis b) anterior commissure c) amygdalofugal tract d) inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus and e) uncinate fasciculus. The color of streamlines is determined by their directionality.
Fig. 5.
Fig. 5.
Significantly increased connection density of the stria terminalis in streamlines seeded at the right lateral and right basal nuclei and significantly increased connection density of the uncinate fasciculus seeded from the right central nucleus.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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