Temporal-lobe morphology differs between healthy adolescents and those with early-onset of depression

Major depressive disorder (MDD) has previously been linked to structural changes in several brain regions, particularly in the medial temporal lobes (Bellani, Baiano, Brambilla, 2010; Bellani, Baiano, Brambilla, 2011). This has been determined using voxel-based morphometry, segmentation algorithms, and analysis of shape deformations (Bell-McGinty et al., 2002; Bergouignan et al., 2009; Posener et al., 2003; Vasic et al., 2008; Zhao et al., 2008): these are methods in which information related to the shape and the pose (the size, and anatomical position and orientation) of structures is lost. Here, we incorporate information about shape and pose to measure structural deformation in adolescents and young adults with and without depression (as measured using the Beck Depression Inventory and Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders criteria). As a hypothesis-generating study, a significance level of p < 0.05, uncorrected for multiple comparisons, was used, so that subtle morphological differences in brain structures between adolescent depressed individuals and control participants could be identified. We focus on changes in cortical and subcortical temporal structures, and use a multi-object statistical pose and shape model to analyze imaging data from 16 females (aged 16–21) and 3 males (aged 18) with early-onset MDD, and 25 female and 1 male normal control participants, drawn from the same age range. The hippocampus, parahippocampal gyrus, putamen, and superior, inferior and middle temporal gyri in both hemispheres of the brain were automatically segmented using the LONI Probabilistic Brain Atlas (Shattuck et al., 2008) in MNI space. Points on the surface of each structure in the atlas were extracted and warped to each participant's structural MRI. These surface points were analyzed to extract the pose and shape features. Pose differences were detected between the two groups, particularly in the left and right putamina, right hippocampus, and left and right inferior temporal gyri. Shape differences were detected between the two groups, particularly in the left hippocampus and in the left and right parahippocampal gyri. Furthermore, pose measures were significantly correlated with BDI score across the whole (clinical and control) sample. Since the clinical participants were experiencing their very first episodes of MDD, morphological alteration in the medial temporal lobe appears to be an early sign of MDD, and is unlikely to result from treatment with antidepressants. Pose and shape measures of morphology, which are not usually analyzed in neuromorphometric studies, appear to be sensitive to depressive symptomatology.