Antidepressant effects of sertraline associated with volume increases in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex

• Published in: Journal of affective disorders Vol. 146; no. 3; pp. 414 - 419
• Main Authors: Smith, Ryan, Chen, Kewei, Baxter, Leslie, Fort, Carolyn, Lane, Richard D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier B.V 25.04.2013; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Affective disorders; Antidepressant drugs; Antidepressants; Antidepressive Agents - pharmacology; Antidepressive Agents - therapeutic use; Biological and medical sciences; Case-Control Studies; Cortex; Cortex (prefrontal); Depression; Depression - drug therapy; Depression - pathology; Emotions; Female; Humans; Longitudinal; Magnetic resonance imaging; Magnetic Resonance Imaging - methods; Major depression; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Mood disorders; Morphometry; MRI; Neuroimaging; Neuromodulation; Neuropharmacology; Organ Size - drug effects; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; Prefrontal Cortex - anatomy & histology; Prefrontal Cortex - drug effects; Psychiatry; Psychoanaleptics: cns stimulant, antidepressant agent, nootropic agent, mood stabilizer; Psychoanaleptics: cns stimulant, antidepressant agent, nootropic agent, mood stabilizer..., (alzheimer disease); Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Psychopharmacology; Serotonin reuptake inhibitors; Serotonin uptake inhibitors; Sertraline; Sertraline - pharmacology; Sertraline - therapeutic use; SSRI; Statistical analysis; Substantia grisea; Treatment Outcome; Voxel-based morphometry (VBM); SSRI; Longitudinal; Voxel-based morphometry (VBM); Major depression; MRI; Mood disorder; Serotonin; Psychotropic; Central nervous system; Depression; Reuptake inhibitor; Nuclear magnetic resonance imaging; Sertraline; Encephalon; Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor; Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex; Naphthylamine derivatives; Neurotransmitter; Medical imagery; Antidepressant agent; Morphometry
• ISSN: 0165-0327; 1573-2517; 1573-2517
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2012.07.029

Structural brain imaging has revealed differences in gray matter volume between depressed individuals and control subjects in key structures related to emotion. The aim of the present study was to assess within subjects whether regional changes in gray matter volume were observed over time in depressed patients treated with sertraline. Thirteen depressed patients were assigned to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) treatment with sertraline. Structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was performed at four time points over 12 weeks of treatment. Depressed individuals were compared to a control group of 10 subjects scanned at the same time points using voxel based morphometry and a statistical growth modeling technique. SSRI-treated patients showed a region of significantly increasing gray matter volume over time within the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) that specifically correlated with decreases in self-reported depression levels. No statistically significant changes were observed related to time in controls. This study included a small sample size and the method of analysis was capable of detecting only linear changes in volume. Effective antidepressant treatment with sertraline is associated with left DLPFC volume increases. These volume increases may reflect cortical architectural changes associated with top-down neuronal modulation of emotion.