Journal article

Publication year: 2022

Journal: Scientific Reports

Volume number: 12

Issue number: 1

ISSN: 2045-2322

Open access status: Gold

DOI Link: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-22437-0

Publisher: Nature Research

Abstract: 
Over the past few years, evidence of a positive relationship between inflammation and depression has grown steadily. The aim of the current study was to investigate whether such depression-related inflammation could also be associated with altered microstructural changes in the white matter. FA and serum cytokines (IL-1 beta, IL-6, TNF-alpha, and IFN-gamma) were measured in 25 patients with depression (DE) and 24 healthy controls (HC). Diffusion tensor imaging was performed. Fractional anisotropy (FA) was calculated using the FSL pipeline for Tract-Based Spatial Statistics (TBSS). Both voxelwise and mean whole-brain FA were analyzed using general linear models (GLM). Higher concentrations of IL-1 beta were associated with lower whole-brain fractional anisotropy, particularly in people with depression (rho = - 0.67; p < 0.001). TNF-alpha shared some variance with IL-1 beta and also showed a negative relationship between TNF-alpha concentrations and FA in depression (F-1,F-46 = 11.13, p = 0.002, eta(2)p = 0.21). In detail, the voxelwise analysis showed that the regression slopes of IL-1 beta on FA were more negative in the DE group than in the HC group, mainly in the corpus callosum (cluster statistics: genu corpus callosum, p = 0.022; splenium of corpus callosum, p = 0.047). Similar effects were not found for the other remaining cytokines. This study clearly demonstrated an association between peripherally measured IL-1 beta and white matter integrity in depression as assessed by DTI. The results suggest that microstructural changes in the corpus callosum are associated with increased peripheral IL-1 beta concentrations in depression.

Harvard Citation style: Sammer, G., Neumann, E., Blecker, C. and Pedraz-Petrozzi, B. (2022) Fractional anisotropy and peripheral cytokine concentrations in outpatients with depressive episode: a diffusion tensor imaging observational study, Scientific Reports, 12(1), Article 17450. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-22437-0

APA Citation style: Sammer, G., Neumann, E., Blecker, C., & Pedraz-Petrozzi, B. (2022). Fractional anisotropy and peripheral cytokine concentrations in outpatients with depressive episode: a diffusion tensor imaging observational study. Scientific Reports. 12(1), Article 17450. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-22437-0