Archival ReportHippocampal Changes Associated with Early-Life Adversity and Vulnerability to Depression
Section snippets
Methods and Materials
These data are part of a larger ongoing study on the development and course of depression in adolescents, as well as the relationship between depression and substance use disorders. The studies were performed at two sites, Harbor-University of California at Los Angeles Medical Center and University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. Because of space limitations, the methods are described briefly, and additional information is provided in Supplement 1.
Demographic and Clinical Characteristics of the Sample
Magnetic resonance scans were aborted in one control and one depressed participant when they reported anxiety. Data from two control subjects had significant motion artifacts. Therefore, results are presented for 32 control, 22 high-risk, and 29 depressed participants. Demographic and clinical features of the sample are outlined in Table 1. The groups did not differ significantly with respect to age, sex, ethnicity/race, or pubertal status. The depressed and high-risk groups had lower SES and a
Discussion
The findings of this study replicate and extend prior work (19, 20, 21). Smaller hippocampal volume was observed in depressed adolescents (20, 21). The results also indicated that morphologic changes in the hippocampus might be evident before clinical manifestation of the illness in individuals at high risk for the disorder (27). Higher levels of adversity during childhood increased the likelihood of smaller hippocampal volume in at-risk youth even after controlling for chronic stress during
References (75)
- et al.
Depression and the serotonin transporter 5-HTTLPR polymorphism: A review and a hypothesis concerning gene-environment interaction
J Affect Disord
(2008) - et al.
The role of childhood trauma in the neurobiology of mood and anxiety disorders: Preclinical and clinical studies
Biol Psychiatry
(2001) - et al.
Effects of early and recent adverse experiences on adrenal response to psychosocial stress in depressed adolescents
Biol Psychiatry
(2008) - et al.
Stress and hippocampal neurogenesis
Biol Psychiatry
(1999) - et al.
The neurobiological consequences of early stress and childhood maltreatment
Neurosci Biobehav Rev
(2003) - et al.
Amygdala and hippocampal volumes in familial early onset major depressive disorder
Biol Psychiatry
(2008) - et al.
Schedule for affective disorders and schizophrenia for School-aged children-present and lifetime version (K-SADS-PL): Initial reliability and validity data
J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry
(1997) - et al.
The stress sensitization hypothesis: Understanding the course of bipolar disorder
J Affect Disord
(2006) AFNI: Software for analysis and visualization of functional magnetic resonance neuroimages
Comput Biomed Res
(1996)- et al.
Structural MR image processing using the BRAINS2 toolbox
Comput Med Imaging Graph
(2002)