TY - JOUR
T1 - The Danish PET/depression project: performance on Stroop's test linked to white matter lesions in the brain
AU - Videbech, Poul
AU - Ravnkilde, Barbara
AU - Gammelgaard, Lise
AU - Egander, Annette
AU - Clemmensen, Karin
AU - Rasmussen, Niels Anton
AU - Gjedde, Albert
AU - Rosenberg, Raben
PY - 2004
Y1 - 2004
N2 - The Stroop test (ST) assesses the integrity of prefrontal and cingulate functioning. Patients with major depression perform poorly on the ST, pointing to disturbed function in these areas. We therefore used positron emission tomography to study 41 in-patients with major depression and 46 age- and gender-matched controls during neuropsychological activation with the ST. Magnetic resonance imaging was used for coregistration and for description of the localization of white matter lesions (WML). The cerebral blood flow (CBF) changes during ST were mapped for each of the two study groups, and inter-group differences were calculated on a voxel-by-voxel basis. The patients were followed for 3 to 5 years to ensure diagnostic stability. The control group activated anterior cingulate regions, prefrontal cortices, insula, thalamus and cerebellum. Despite the patients' slower performance with more errors, no significant differences were found comparing the activations in the two groups. The performance was, however, correlated to the number of WML in frontal lobes, insula and adjacent to the basal ganglia, whereas WML in other locations was not related to performance. We thus partly explain the poorer performance by increased frequency of WML in frontostriatal pathways in the depressed patients, impairing neurotransmission.
AB - The Stroop test (ST) assesses the integrity of prefrontal and cingulate functioning. Patients with major depression perform poorly on the ST, pointing to disturbed function in these areas. We therefore used positron emission tomography to study 41 in-patients with major depression and 46 age- and gender-matched controls during neuropsychological activation with the ST. Magnetic resonance imaging was used for coregistration and for description of the localization of white matter lesions (WML). The cerebral blood flow (CBF) changes during ST were mapped for each of the two study groups, and inter-group differences were calculated on a voxel-by-voxel basis. The patients were followed for 3 to 5 years to ensure diagnostic stability. The control group activated anterior cingulate regions, prefrontal cortices, insula, thalamus and cerebellum. Despite the patients' slower performance with more errors, no significant differences were found comparing the activations in the two groups. The performance was, however, correlated to the number of WML in frontal lobes, insula and adjacent to the basal ganglia, whereas WML in other locations was not related to performance. We thus partly explain the poorer performance by increased frequency of WML in frontostriatal pathways in the depressed patients, impairing neurotransmission.
U2 - 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2003.10.002
DO - 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2003.10.002
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 15033182
SN - 0165-1781
VL - 130
SP - 117
EP - 130
JO - Psychiatry Research
JF - Psychiatry Research
IS - 2
ER -