Affecting more than 20 million Americans every year, major depressive disorder (MDD)
is a major burden on society. A 2011 World Health Organization report predicted that
depression will be the leading cause of disease burden worldwide by 2030. With multiple
distinct combinations of diverse signs and symptoms that can lead to a diagnosis,
MDD is extremely heterogeneous. This heterogeneity suggests that dysfunction occurs
across several different brain regions. Consistent with this idea, human imaging studies
implicate areas such as the prefrontal cortex and the hippocampus. More specifically,
several magnetic resonance imaging studies and meta-analyses have consistently found
volumetric reductions in prefrontal cortex and hippocampus (
1
). These volumetric effects can be partially reversed with antidepressant treatment.
However, very few clinical studies have attempted to dissect these brain regions further
and determine, for example, which subfields of the hippocampus are most sensitive
to the course of MDD.To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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References
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Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
November 10,
2014
Received:
November 10,
2014
Identification
Copyright
© 2015 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
