Correlation between fractional anisotropy values of diffusion tensor imaging and working memory impairment in patients with depression

Abstract

Objective To investigate whether there are correlations between working memory impairmentand fractional anisotropy values and to explore the neuropathology underlying that the patients of depression suffered from memory impairment.Methods Thirty depression patients and 30 healthy controls group-matched by age,educational level were conducted the study.Mean correct reaction time(mRT)was recorded when they performed a One-Back Working Memory Task and fractional anisotropy(FA)values was recorded when they performed the diffusion tensor imaging.Statistics analysis was done respectively for mRT and FA values between two groups.Results Relative to mean correct reaction time((612.45±54.08)ms)of controls,the mean correct reaction time ((720.25±57.02)ms)of patients with depression was much longer(P＜0.05)and the patients with depression had a lower FA values in the white matter of both frontal lobe,anterior cingulate gyrus,supramarginal gyrus,splenium of corpus callosum(P＜0.05),and the FA values in the white matter of both frontal lobe were significantly negative correlated with mRT(r=-0.604,P＜0.05).Conclusion The impairment of white matter region may be one of the neuropathology underlying that the depression patients suffer from memory impairment. Key words: Depression; Working memory; Mean correct reaction time; Diffusion tensor imaging; Fractional anisotropy