Gender Dependent Difference of Hippocampus and Amygdala Sizes in Relation to Depression: A Manual Brain Segmentation Study

Abstract

Introduction: hippocampus and amygdala believed to be central to the cognitive deficits associated with depression. The former has a crucial role in declarative memory, whereas the latter is the center that is responsible for fear and anxiety. The present study examined their volumes depending on the patient's right and left sides, as well as gender, depression and controls. Methods: 50 controls (25 male, 25 female) and 50 patients with depression (25 male, 25 female) were involved in the study. The amygdala and hippocampal volumes were manually calculated using Image) brain segmentation software utilizing structural MRI. Results: The volume of right as well as left amygdala in a female patient with depression and control female (2.3648 cm3 and 2.2420 cm3) and (2.1352cm3 and 2.0724 cm3) (+/- SD 0.45704 and 0.41871) and (+/- SD 0.34923 and 0.31978), respectively. A patient with depression is higher than control, p. value < 0.05 (0.052); furthermore, the left amygdala has less volume than the right. Conclusion: depression is associated with the reduction of the volume of amygdala in females specifically the left side. Along with the amygdala, it could also cause abnormalities in hippocampus volume.