Volume 26, Issue 121, March 2022

Gender dependent difference of hippocampus and amygdala sizes in relation to depression: A manual brain segmentation study

Khalid M Taha^1,2,3, Amani Elfaki⁴, Tahir Osman Ali⁵, Abubaker Y. Elamin⁶, Nagi M. Bakhit⁷, Juman M. Almasaad^8,9, Mohammed H. Karrar Alsharif^10♦

¹Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, Omdurman Islamic University, Sudan
²Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine El-Deain University, Sudan
³Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, University of Garden city, Sudan
⁴Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, Alzaiem Alazhari University, Sudan
⁵Departments of Anatomy Faculty of Medicine the National University Khartoum, Sudan
⁶Department of Histology and Embryology, Faculty of Medicine, Ondokuz Mayis University, 55139 Atakum, Samsun, Turkey
⁷Anatomy Department, College of Medicine, Arabian Gulf University, Manama, Bahrain
⁸Department of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, King Saud Bin Abdul Aziz University for Health Sciences, National Guard Health Affairs, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
⁹King Abdullah International Medical Research Centre (KAIMRC), King Abdulaziz Medical City, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
¹⁰Department of Basic Medical Science, College of Medicine, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, Al Kharj 11942, Saudi Arabia

^♦Corresponding author
Dr. Mohammed H. Karrar Alsharif, Department of Basic Medical Science, College of Medicine, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, Al Kharj, Saudi Arabia.

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 ImageJ 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.

Keywords: Hippocampus, Manual Segmentation, Amygdala, Depression

Medical Science, 2022, 26, ms95e2131

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.54905/disssi/v26i121/ms95e2131

Published: 08 March 2022