Effects of childhood adversity on the volumes of the amygdala subnuclei and hippocampal subfields in individuals with major depressive disorder

Abstract

Background: Reductions in total hippocampus volume have frequently been reported in MRI studies in major depressive disorder (MDD), but reports of differences in total amygdala volume have been inconsistent. Childhood maltreatment is an important risk factor for MDD in adulthood and may affect the volume of the hippocampus and amygdala. In the present study, we examined associations between the volumes of the amygdala subnuclei and hippocampal subfields and history of childhood maltreatment in participants with MDD.

Methods: We recruited 35 patients who met the DSM-IV criteria for MDD and 35 healthy controls. We acquired MRI data sets on a 4.7 T Varian Inova scanner. We manually delineated the amygdala subnuclei (lateral, basal and accessory basal nuclei, and the cortical and centromedial groups) and hippocampal subfields (cornu ammonis, subiculum and dentate gyrus) using reliable volumetric methods. We assessed childhood maltreatment using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire in participants with MDD.

Results: In participants with MDD, a history of childhood maltreatment had significant negative associations with volume in the right amygdala, anterior hippocampus and total cornu ammonis subfield bilaterally. For volumes of the amygdala subnuclei, such effects were limited to the basal, accessory basal and cortical subnuclei in the right hemisphere, but they did not survive correction for multiple comparisons. We did not find significant effects of MDD or antidepressant treatment on volumes of the amygdala subnuclei.

Limitations: Our study was a cross-sectional study.

Conclusion: Our results provide evidence of negative associations between history of childhood maltreatment and volumes of medial temporal lobe structures in participants with MDD. This may help to identify potential mechanisms by which maltreatment leads to clinical impacts.

Fig. 1

Three-dimensional reconstructions of the hippocampal subfields and subregions, as well as the amygdala and its subnuclei, from a healthy individual. Three-dimensional images from the (a) medial, (b) superior and (c) lateral views were created using ITK-SNAP software (version 3.8.0). (d–i) Segmentation of the hippocampal subfields and subregions, as well as the amygdala subnuclei on coronal views, are shown on T₂-weighted fast spin echo images with inverted contrast. For the hippocampal subfields, the cornu ammonis (CA 1–3) is outlined in red, the dentate gyrus is outlined in blue and the subiculum is outlined in green; hippocampal subfields along the anteroposterior axis of the hippocampus (head, body and tail) are shown with different colour intensities. For the amygdala subnuclei, the lateral nucleus is outlined in pink, the basal nucleus is outlined in dark purple, the accessory basal nucleus is outlined in light purple, the cortical group is outlined in orange and the centromedial group is outlined in yellow. Dotted lines indicate the locations of corresponding MRI slices.