RT Journal
A1 Soetanto A, Wilson RS, Talbot K, et al
T1 ASsociation of anxiety and depression with microtubule-associated protein 2– and synaptopodin-immunolabeled dendrite and spine densities in hippocampal ca3 of older humans
JF Archives of General Psychiatry
JO Archives of General Psychiatry
YR 2010
FD May 1
VO 67
IS 5
SP 448
OP 457
DO 10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2010.48
UL http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2010.48
AB Context 
    Chronic psychological distress has deleterious effects on many of the body's physiological systems. In experimental animal models, chronic stress leads to neuroanatomic changes in the hippocampus, in particular a decrease in the length and branching of dendrites as well as a decrease in the number of dendritic spines.Objectives 
    To examine whether analogous distress-related neuroanatomic changes occur in humans and whether such changes might also be related to cognitive dysfunction observed in older people who report greater psychological distress.Design 
    Postmortem study of brain tissues from participants of the Religious Orders Study, an ongoing population-based clinicopathological study of aging and cognition.Setting 
    The Rush University Religious Orders Study and the University of Pennsylvania Cellular and Molecular Neuropathology Program.Participants 
    Seventy-two deceased participants of the Religious Orders Study.Main Outcome Measures 
    Densities of microtubule-associated protein 2–immunolabeled dendrites and synaptopodin-immunolabeled dendritic spines in the CA3 subfield of the hippocampus, quantified using semiautomated image acquisition and analysis.Results 
    Higher levels of trait anxiety and longitudinal depression scores were associated with decreased densities of dendrites and spines in CA3. Dendrite and spine densities did not correlate with an index of global cognition or with densities of common age-related pathological changes.Conclusions 
    Regressive neuronal changes occur in humans who experience greater psychological distress. These changes are analogous to neuronal changes in animal models of chronic stress.