Background

Studies from animal models and clinical trials of blood and cerebrospinal fluid have proposed that blood-brain barrier (BBB) dysfunction in depression (MDD). But there are no In vivo proves focused on BBB dysfunction in MDD patients. The present study aimed to identify whether there was abnormal BBB permeability, as well as the association with clinical status in MDD patients using dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance (DCE-MRI) imaging.

Methods

Patients with MDD and healthy adults were recruited and underwent DCE-MRI and structural MRI scans. The mean volume transfer constant (K^trans) values were calculated for a quantitative assessment of BBB leakage. For each subject, the mean K^trans values were calculated for the whole gray matter, white matter, and 90 brain regions of the anatomical automatic labeling template (AAL). The differences in K^trans values between patients and controls and between treated and untreated patients were compared.

Results

23 MDD patients (12 males and 11 females, mean age 28.09 years) and 18 healthy controls (HC, 8 males and 10 females, mean age 30.67 years) were recruited in the study. We found that the K^trans values in the olfactory, caudate, and thalamus were higher in MDD patients compared to healthy controls (p<0.05). The K^trans values in the orbital lobe, anterior cingulate gyrus, putamen, and thalamus in treated patients were lower than the patients never treated. There were positive correlations between HAMD total score with K^trans values in whole brain WM, hippocampus and thalamus. The total HAMA score was positively correlated with the K^trans of hippocampus.

Conclusion

These findings supported a link between blood-brain barrier leakage and depression and symptom severity. The results also suggested a role for non-invasive DCE-MRI in detecting blood-brain barrier dysfunction in depression patients.

中文翻译：

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DCE-MRI 成像发现重度抑郁症患者血脑屏障通透性较高

背景

动物模型研究以及血液和脑脊液临床试验表明，抑郁症（MDD）存在血脑屏障（BBB）功能障碍。但尚无针对MDD患者血脑屏障功能障碍的体内证据。本研究旨在利用动态对比增强磁共振 (DCE-MRI) 成像来确定 MDD 患者是否存在血脑屏障通透性异常及其与临床状态的关联。

方法

招募 MDD 患者和健康成年人并接受 DCE-MRI 和结构 MRI 扫描。计算平均体积转移常数 (K ^trans ) 值以定量评估 BBB 渗漏。对于每个受试者，计算整个灰质、白质和解剖自动标记模板 (AAL) 的 90 个大脑区域的平均 K ^trans值。比较患者和对照之间以及治疗和未治疗患者之间的K ^trans值差异。

结果

该研究招募了 23 名 MDD 患者（12 名男性和 11 名女性，平均年龄 28.09 岁）和 18 名健康对照者（HC，8 名男性和 10 名女性，平均年龄 30.67 岁）。我们发现，与健康对照相比，MDD 患者嗅觉、尾状核和丘脑的K^{反式值较高（} p <0.05）。接受治疗的患者眼眶叶、前扣带回、壳核和丘脑的K ^trans值低于未接受治疗的患者。HAMD总分与全脑WM、海马和丘脑K ^trans值呈正相关。HAMA总分与海马^{Ktrans呈正相关。}

结论

这些发现支持血脑屏障渗漏与抑郁症和症状严重程度之间的联系。结果还表明，非侵入性 DCE-MRI 在检测抑郁症患者的血脑屏障功能障碍方面具有重要作用。