ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Psychopathology
This article is part of the Research TopicThe Heterogeneity of Psychiatric Symptoms and DisordersView all 21 articles
Abnormality of Brain Gray Matter in bipolar depression and unipolar depression
Provisionally accepted
- 1Department of Psychiatry, First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University, Guangzhou, Guizhou, China
- 2Mental Health Institute, Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China
- 3Department of Psychiatry,The Second People’s Hospital of Hunan Province（Brain Hospital of Hunan Province）, changsha, China
- 4Second People’s Hospital of Hunan Province, Yuhua, China
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Objective: We sought to investigate the difference of gray matter volume among patients with bipolar depression (BD), unipolar depression (UD)and healthy controls (HCs), in order to determine the distinct gray matter volume abnormality patterns which may help to differentiate BD from UD. Methods: Totally 23 BD, 22 UD, and 24HCs were recruited to undergo dimensional structural magnetic resonance scanning. By using voxel-based morphometry(VBM), we investigated the gray matter volume in three groups. Results: Both patient groups showed significantly decreased gray matter in the right superior temporal gyrus, right insular thanHCs. Moreover, the right posterior cingutate cortex exhibited decreased gray matter in the BD group, but increased gray matter in the UD group. In addition, there was a significantly positive correlation of gray matter decreases in the right superior temporal gyrus and right insular with the total HAMD score in UD group. Conclusion: BD and UD patients demonstrate different patterns of abnormality of brain gray matter in the right posterior cingutate cortex, which might be a biomarker to differentiate these two depressive disorders.
Keywords: Depression, structural magnetic resonance imaging, gray matter volume, Bipolar depression, Unipolar depression
Received: 25 Nov 2024; Accepted: 29 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhou, Wu, Li and Liu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Chang Liu, liuchang19861121@163.com
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