Meta-Analysis
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2024. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Psychiatry. Jul 19, 2024; 14(7): 1106-1117
Published online Jul 19, 2024. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v14.i7.1106
Multimodal abnormalities of brain structures in adolescents and young adults with major depressive disorder: An activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis
Yan-Ping Shu, Qin Zhang, Yong-Zhe Hou, Shuang Liang, Zu-Li Zheng, Jia-Lin Li, Gang Wu
Yan-Ping Shu, Yong-Zhe Hou, Zu-Li Zheng, Gang Wu, Department of Psychiatry of Women and Children, The Second People’s Hospital of Guizhou Province, Guiyang 550000, Guizhou Province, China
Qin Zhang, Shuang Liang, Department of Radiology, The Second People’s Hospital of Guizhou Province, Guiyang 550000, Guizhou Province, China
Qin Zhang, Department of Radiology, Guizhou Provincial People’s Hospital, Guiyang 550000, Guizhou Province, China
Jia-Lin Li, Medical Humanities College, Guizhou Medical University, Guiyang 550000, Guizhou Province, China
Co-corresponding authors: Yong-Zhe Hou and Gang Wu.
Author contributions: Shu YP conceptualized and designed the research framework; Hou YZ and Zhang Q were responsible for conducting the literature search, carrying out the initial screening, extracting relevant data, and performing the analytical computations; Liang S, Zheng ZL, Li JL, and Wu G contributed to critical revisions that significantly improved the intellectual content of the manuscript. Wu G and Hou YZ contributed equally to this manuscript and are therefore listed as co-corresponding authors. This designation as co-corresponding authors underscores our shared responsibilities in handling correspondence, communicating with peers, and providing essential guidance throughout the research process.
Supported by the Guizhou Province Science and Technology Plan Project, No. ZK-2023-195; and 2021 Health Commission of Guizhou Province Project, No. gzwkj2021-150.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.
PRISMA 2009 Checklist statement: The authors have read the PRISMA 2009 Checklist, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the PRISMA 2009 Checklist.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Gang Wu, PhD, Professor, Department of Psychiatry of Women and Children, The Second People’s Hospital of Guizhou Province, No. 206 South Section of Xintian Avenue, Guiyang 550000, Guizhou Province, China. 738446124@qq.com
Received: March 30, 2024
Revised: May 10, 2024
Accepted: May 27, 2024
Published online: July 19, 2024
Processing time: 104 Days and 0.8 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Major depressive disorder (MDD) in adolescents and young adults contributes significantly to global morbidity, with inconsistent findings on brain structural changes from structural magnetic resonance imaging studies. Activation likelihood estimation (ALE) offers a method to synthesize these diverse findings and identify consistent brain anomalies.

AIM

To identify consistent brain structural changes in adolescents and young adults with MDD using ALE meta-analysis.

METHODS

We performed a comprehensive literature search in PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, and Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure databases for neuroimaging studies on MDD among adolescents and young adults published up to November 19, 2023. Two independent researchers performed the study selection, quality assessment, and data extraction. The ALE technique was employed to synthesize findings on localized brain function anomalies in MDD patients, which was supplemented by sensitivity analyses.

RESULTS

Twenty-two studies comprising fourteen diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) studies and eight voxel-based morphometry (VBM) studies, and involving 451 MDD patients and 465 healthy controls (HCs) for DTI and 664 MDD patients and 946 HCs for VBM, were included. DTI-based ALE demonstrated significant reductions in fractional anisotropy (FA) values in the right caudate head, right insula, and right lentiform nucleus putamen in adolescents and young adults with MDD compared to HCs, with no regions exhibiting increased FA values. VBM-based ALE did not demonstrate significant alterations in gray matter volume. Sensitivity analyses highlighted consistent findings in the right caudate head (11 of 14 analyses), right insula (10 of 14 analyses), and right lentiform nucleus putamen (11 of 14 analyses).

CONCLUSION

Structural alterations in the right caudate head, right insula, and right lentiform nucleus putamen in young MDD patients may contribute to its recurrent nature, offering insights for targeted therapies.

Keywords: Major depressive disorder; Adolescent; Young adults; Neuroimaging; Diffusion tensor imaging; Voxel-based morphometry; Activation likelihood estimation; Meta-analysis

Core Tip: This activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analysis illuminates significant structural brain changes in adolescents and young adults with major depressive disorder (MDD), particularly in the right caudate head, right insula, and right lentiform nucleus putamen, highlighting their potential as neural markers. By employing ALE across diffusion tensor imaging and voxel-based morphometry studies, the research reveals consistent patterns of reduced fractional anisotropy, underscoring the recurrent nature of MDD. These insights provide a deeper understanding of its neuropathology and highlights the critical role of specialized neuroimaging in unraveling the complex mechanisms underlying MDD.