Depression and the prefrontal-hippocampal pathway - A multimodal neuroimaging study in transgender women

This study aims to investigate functional and neurotransmitter signaling in the prefrontal-hippocampal pathway in relation to depression in a cohort of Thai transgender women. Twenty participants completed mental health surveys and imaging between January and March 2024. Depression severity was measured by Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) scores. Higher PHQ-9 scores were associated with lower GABA levels in the hippocampus, and with lower fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (fALFF) in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. However, removal of the hippocampal GABA outlier resulted in a non-significant relationship with PHQ-9. Therefore, future studies with larger datasets should further investigate the association between GABA and depression in a transgender cohort. These findings revealed interactions between neurotransmitter signaling and functional brain activity of the hippocampal-prefrontal circuit in depression.

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Publication Details

Journal
Comprehensive Psychoneuroendocrinology
Published
2025-03-02
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpnec.2025.100288
Citations
1
Primary Topic
LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
2.44
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Depression and the prefrontal-hippocampal pathway - A multimodal neuroimaging study in transgender women

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Depression and the prefrontal-hippocampal pathway - A multimodal neuroimaging study in transgender women

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article en
1 citations

Abstract

This study aims to investigate functional and neurotransmitter signaling in the prefrontal-hippocampal pathway in relation to depression in a cohort of Thai transgender women. Twenty participants completed mental health surveys and imaging between January and March 2024. Depression severity was measured by Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) scores. Higher PHQ-9 scores were associated with lower GABA levels in the hippocampus, and with lower fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (fALFF) in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. However, removal of the hippocampal GABA outlier resulted in a non-significant relationship with PHQ-9. Therefore, future studies with larger datasets should further investigate the association between GABA and depression in a transgender cohort. These findings revealed interactions between neurotransmitter signaling and functional brain activity of the hippocampal-prefrontal circuit in depression.

Comprehensive PsychoneuroendocrinologyVol. 22
Chulalongkorn University (TH), Washington University in St. Louis (US), Mahidol University (TH), HIV Netherlands Australia Thailand Research Collaboration (TH), Ramathibodi Hospital (TH)
Gender equality
Openalex Percentile: Top 15%
LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy
2.44
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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