Citation

Chhetry BT, Hezghia A, Miller JM, Lee S, Rubin-Falcone H, Cooper TB, Oquendo MA, Mann JJ, Sublette ME. J. Psychiatr. Res. 2016; 75: 65-74.

Affiliation

Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, 1051 Riverside Drive, New York, NY 10032, USA; Division of Molecular Imaging & Neuropathology, New York State Psychiatric Institute, 1051 Riverside Drive, Unit 42, New York, NY 10032, USA. Electronic address: sublett@nyspi.columbia.edu.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.jpsychires.2015.12.007

PMID

26802812

Abstract

White matter abnormalities are implicated in major depressive disorder (MDD). As omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) are low in MDD and affect myelination, we hypothesized that PUFA supplementation may alleviate depression through improving white matter integrity. Acutely depressed MDD patients (n = 16) and healthy volunteers (HV, n = 12) had 25-direction diffusion tensor imaging before and after 6 weeks of fish oil supplementation. Plasma phospholipid omega-3 PUFAs eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), and omega-6 PUFA arachidonic acid (AA) levels were determined before and after supplementation using high-throughput extraction and gas chromatography and expressed as a percentage of total phospholipids (PUFA%). Fractional anisotropy (FA) was computed using a least-squares-fit diffusion tensor with non-linear optimization. Regression analyses were performed with changes in PUFA levels or Hamilton Depression Rating Scale scores as predictors, voxel-wise difference maps of FA as outcome, covariates age and sex, with family-wise correction for multiple comparisons. Increases in plasma phospholipid DHA% (but not EPA% or AA%) after fish oil predicted increases in FA in MDD but not HV, in a cluster including genu and body of the corpus callosum, and anterior corona radiata and cingulum (cluster-level p < 0.001, peak t-score = 8.10, p = 0.002). There was a trend for greater change in FA in MDD responders over nonresponders (t = -1.874, df = 13.56, p = 0.08). Decreased depression severity predicted increased FA in left corticospinal tract and superior longitudinal fasciculus (cluster-level p < 0.001, peak t-score = 5.04, p = 0.0001). Increased FA correlated with increased DHA% and decreased depression severity after fish oil supplementation suggests therapeutic effects of omega-3 PUFAs may be related to improvements in white matter integrity.

Language: en