Quantitative Evaluation of Gray Matter Volume of Amygdala in Patients with Depression on Magnetic Resonance Image: Brain Suite Segmentation Study

Background: Depression is one of the common mood disorders; the amygdala is almond shape structure lies within the temporal lobe. Many mental disorders, including depression, may increase or decrease it. The aim of this study is to detect structural alterations of the amygdala in patients with depression and control on MRI.

Materials and methods: amygdala volumes were measured in 50 (25 male, 25 female) patients with depression (age 20- 40 years) mean age 24 years (± SD 5.02) and 50 sex age matched control (25 male, 25 female) mean age 24 years (± SD 5.28), using brain Suite on magnetic resonance image (MRI).

Results: the mean volume of gray matter of right, left and total amygdala of patients with depression and controls were 1.77 cm 3 , 1.78 cm 3 and 3.35 cm 3 (± SD 2.13, 2.10 and 4.22) and 0.41 cm 3 , 0.40 cm 3 and 0.81cm3 (± SD 1.30, 1.52 and 2.82), respectively. With P. value<0.05. The gray matter proportion in female patients with depression was higher than males. The volume reduction on the right side of amygdala was clearly noted.

Conclusion: our data indicate that the gray matter of amygdala is increased in patients with depression; female patients have increased amygdala volume. It seems that the depression caused right side volume reduction.

Author(s): Khalid M Taha, Amani Elfaki, Tahir Osman Ali

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