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. 2022 Jul;12(7):e32598.
doi: 10.1002/brb3.2598. Epub 2022 Jun 7.

Perivascular spaces as a marker of psychological trauma in depression: A 7-Tesla MRI study

Daniel L Ranti  1 , Andrew J Warburton  1 , John W Rutland  1 , Jonathan T Dullea  1 , Matthew Markowitz  1 , Derek A Smith  1 , Sophie Z Karwoska Kligler  1 , Sarah Rutter  1 , Mackenzie Langan  1 , Annie Arrighi-Allisan  1 , Ilena George  2 , Gaurav Verma  1 , James W Murrough  3 , Bradley N Delman  4 , Priti Balchandani  1 , Laurel S Morris  1   3
Affiliations

Perivascular spaces as a marker of psychological trauma in depression: A 7-Tesla MRI study

Daniel L Ranti et al. Brain Behav. 2022 Jul.

Abstract

Introduction: Emerging evidence in depression suggests that blood-brain barrier (BBB) breakdown and elevated inflammatory cytokines in states of persistent stress or trauma may contribute to the development of symptoms. Signal-to-noise ratio afforded by ultra-high field MRI may aid in the detection of maladaptations of the glymphatic system related to BBB integrity that may not be visualized at lower field strengths.

Methods: We investigated the link between glymphatic neuroanatomy via perivascular spaces (PVS) and trauma experience in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) and in healthy controls using 7-Tesla MRI and a semi-automated segmentation algorithm.

Results: After controlling for age and gender, the number of traumatic events was correlated with total PVS volume in MDD patients (r = 0.50, p = .028) and the overall population (r = 0.34, p = .024). The number of traumatic events eliciting horror was positively correlated with total PVS volume in MDD patients (r = 0.50, p = .030) and the overall population (r = 0.32, p = .023). Age correlated positively with PVS count, PVS total volume, and PVS density in all participants (r > 0.35, p < .01).

Conclusions: These results suggest a relationship between glymphatic dysfunction related to BBB integrity and psychological trauma, and that glymphatic impairment may play a role in trauma-related symptomatology.

Keywords: MRI; blood-brain barrier; glymphatic system; major depressive disorder; medical imaging; psychological trauma.

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Conflict of interest statement

the authors have no conflicts to declare.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Project workflow. An outline of the project workflow from scan acquisition to final statistical analyses. (1) Persistent MDD symptoms lead to (2) the breakdown of the blood brain barrier via inflammatory cytokines such as IL‐1, IL‐6, and TNF‐α; (3) 7T MRI scans along with whit matter mask data were collected on a Siemens 7T whole body scanner; (4) the white matter data were coregistered into the T2‐space using FreeSurfer; (5) semi‐automated PVS markings were generated using a Frangi‐based edge detection filter; (6) statistical analyses were run correlating various trauma scores to PVS quantification measures
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Unsegmented and segmented 7T MRI Scan. A side‐by‐side comparison of a segmented axial T2‐TSE slice (left) and the unsegmented image (right) in the PVS‐SAS program. Each red outlined object on the marked slice (left) delineates a PVS, as detected by the semi‐automated PVS marking, and confirmed by two manual readers
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Scatter plots comparing OC TLEQ and age to PVS count, PVS density, and PVS total volume
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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