The role of the hippocampus in the pathophysiology of major depression.

By S. Campbell, Glenda Macqueen. Journal of Psychiatry & Neuroscience, 2004

910 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Converging lines of research suggest that the hippocampal complex (HC) may have a role in the pathophysiology of major depressive disorder (MDD). Although postmortem studies show little cellular death in the HC of depressed patients, animal studies suggest that elevated glucocorticoid levels associated with MDD may negatively affect neurogenesis, cause excitotoxic damage or be associated with reduced levels of key neurotrophins in the HC. Antidepressant medications may counter these effects, having been shown to increase HC neurogenesis and levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor in animal studies. Neuropsychological studies have identified deficits in hippocampus-dependent recollection memory that may not abate with euthymia, and such memory impairment has been the most reliably documented cognitive abnormality in patients with MDD. Finally, data from imaging studies suggest both structural changes in the volume of the HC and functional alterations in frontotemporal and limbic circuits that may be critical for mood regulation. The extent to which such functional and structural changes determine clinical outcome in MDD remains unknown; a related, but also currently unanswered, question is whether the changes in HC function and structure observed in MDD are preventable or modifiable with effective treatment for the depressive illness.

Subfields: Behavioral Neuroscience, Cognitive Neuroscience, Developmental Neuroscience

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/2d98192196b2badb344ea6bc43414e3118ee2fde

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Citations in the corpus

Prospective reports of chronic life stress predict decreased grey matter volume in the hippocampus (2007, positive): “…chronic stress may be associated with decreased hippocampal volume by mechanisms that are similar to those delineated in animal models of chronic stress and hippocampal atrophy (Bremner, 2001; Campbell and MacQueen, 2004, 2006; Charney and Manji, 2004; McEwen, 2004; Sapolsky, 2000; Sheline, 1996).”
Circadian genes, rhythms and the biology of mood disorders. (2007, background): “The hippocampus is thought to be particularly relevant to mood disorders since stress and antidepressant treatments have opposing effects on neurogenesis in this region, and structural changes in the hippocampus have been observed in depressed patients (Campbell and Macqueen, 2004).”
A Unified Model of Depression (2016, positive): “For example, early life adversity has been linked with reduced volume of the hippocampus (Rao et al., 2010), a brain structure that plays a critical role in learning and memory formation (see Squire, 1992) and is implicated in the neuropathology of depression (see Campbell & MacQueen, 2004).”
Structural Plasticity and Hippocampal Function (2010, background): “F or p er so na l u se o nl y. ANRV398-PS61-05 ARI 17 November 2009 19:45 imaging studies demonstrating a small reduction in hippocampal volume in depressed patients (reviewed in Campbell & MacQueen 2004).”