Aim of the study was to examine in 77 patients with major depression and 77 healthy controls the association between the triallelic polymorphism in the promotor region of the serotonin transporter gene (5-HTTLPR) and gray matter brain volumes measured with 1.5 Tesla magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Voxelbased morphometry were estimated on magnetic resonance images and genotyping was performed.
In the figure regions where gray matter volume is significantly associated with the polymorphism in the promotor region of the serotonin transporter gene (5-HTTLPR) in patients with major depression are shown in red. Significant associations were detected bilaterally in the hippocampus, in the anterior and middle gyrus cinguli, in the insular cortex, in the dorsomedial and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, in the orbitofrontal cortex as well as in the precentral and in the supplementary motor areas. P-values are corrected for multiple comparisons (FDR, P<0.05).
As shown in the original article (Frodl et al., Mol Psychiatry 2008) healthy controls show different associations with 5-HTTLPR compared to patients, suggesting that patients with the risk allele of 5-HTTLPR are more vulnerable for morphological changes during depressive episodes.
Acknowledgement: Art work was carried out by Dr. Nikolaos Koutsouleris.
For more information on this topic, please refer to the article by Frodl et al. on pages 1093–1101.