JPBS

Background Patients with Bipolar depression is often misdiagnosed to be as unipolar depression due to the phenotype similarity of these two diseases. We hypothesize that patients with these two diseases may demonstrate difference in terms of grey matter volume. Methods Structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data were acquired form 64 subjects, including 17 unipolar depression patients, 19 bipolar depression patients and 28 healthy controls. Image preprocess were conducted using Voxel-based morphometry (VBM).The grey matter volume changes were then compared among different groups. Results Compared to healthy controls, both Unipolar and bipolar patients demonstrated significantly decreased grey matter volume in the right anterior cerebellum lobe. Moreover, we observed significant right superior temporal gyrus volume decrease in unipolar patients compared to both healthy controls and bipolar subjects. Conclusion Our results indicated that volume changes in anterior cerebellum lobe could be used for the diagnosis of both unipolar and bipolar depressions. Additionally, the right superior temporal gyrus volume variations may differ in unipolar and bipolar patients and thereby could be used as a marker for differentiating these two diseases.

Unipolar Depression; Bipolar Depression; Gray matter Volume