A diffusion tensor imaging study of white matter microstructure concerning suicidal ideation in major depressive disorder

Abstract

Introduction Suicide is a serious public health problem. Microstructural abnormalities of white matter (WM) in major depressive disorder (MDD) patients had been studied with diffusion tensor image (DTI) before. However, little is known regarding suicidal ideation (SI). Objectives To use diffusion tensor imaging to characterize abnormalities of white matter integrity in major depressive disorder patients with and without SI. Methods Sixteen depressive patients with SI, 16 depressive patients without SI and 32 age- and gender-matched healthy controls received MRI scans on a 3T magnet. Whole brain voxel-based analysis was used to compare fractional anisotropy (FA) across the three groups with threshold at P Results The three groups had significant differences of FA in the left centrum semiovale (peak Z=4.64 at −30, −38, 34), right centrum semiovale (peak Z=3.54 at 32, −34, 32) and right splenium of corpus callosum (peak Z=4.64 at 4, −34, 12; Fig. 1). We also found a negative correlation between mean regional FA values in the white matter under the left centrum semiovale and the intensity of suicidal ideation scores ( r =−0.563, P =0.023). Conclusion Suicidal ideation is associated with microstructure abnormalities of the white matter in centrum semiovale and corpus callosum.