ArticleTranslational psychiatry2016
Association between reduced white matter integrity in the corpus callosum and serotonin transporter gene DNA methylation in medication-naive patients with major depressive disorder.
Article in Translational psychiatry, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 35 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
35 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 97 citations in OpenAlex.
- Exploring the association between serotonin transporter promoter region methylation levels and depressive symptoms: a systematic review and multi-level meta-analysis.Translational psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Brain-based Sex Differences in Depression: A Systematic Review of Neuroimaging Studies.Brain imaging and behavior · 2023Pooled it
- Unraveling the mystery of white matter in depression: A translational perspective on recent advances.Brain and behavior · 2022Pooled it
- Diffusion MRI as a complementary assessment to cognition, emotion, and motor dysfunction after sports-related concussion: a systematic review and critical appraisal of the literature.Brain imaging and behavior · 2021Pooled it
- DNA methylation and brain structure and function across the life course: A systematic review.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2020Pooled it
- A nuclei-specific fronto-amygdala pathway and its neurotransmitter receptor distribution: Implications for Antidepressant Selection.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Article
- Cognitive frailty and associated factors in older adults with type 2 diabetes in rural Vietnam.BMC geriatrics · 2026Article
- The Peripheral Epigenome Predicts White Matter Volume Contingent on Developmental Stage: An ECHO Study.Molecular neurobiology · 2025Article
- The Use of MRI and TMS in Treatment-Resistant Depression: Advances in Pediatric Applications.Brain sciences · 2025Review
- Altered intersubject functional variability of brain white-matter in major depressive disorder and its association with gene expression profiles.Human brain mapping · 2024Article
- Epigenetic regulation in major depression and other stress-related disorders: molecular mechanisms, clinical relevance and therapeutic potential.Signal transduction and targeted therapy · 2023Review
- White matter abnormalities are associated with the declined ability of reasoning and problem-solving in major depressive disorder.Brain and behavior · 2023Article
- Brain-wide associations between white matter and age highlight the role of fornix microstructure in brain ageing.Human brain mapping · 2023Article
- Article
- Fractional anisotropy and peripheral cytokine concentrations in outpatients with depressive episode: a diffusion tensor imaging observational study.Scientific reports · 2022Observational
- Per1 gene polymorphisms influence the relationship between brain white matter microstructure and depression risk.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Article
- White Matter Alterations in Depressive Disorder.Frontiers in immunology · 2022Review
- Elevated Systemic Inflammation Is Associated with Reduced Corticolimbic White Matter Integrity in Depression.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Depression, and Neurodegeneration: A Bidirectional Communication from Gut to Brain.Nutrients · 2021Review
- Relationship between illness duration, corpus callosum changes, and sustained attention dysfunction in major depressive disorder.Quantitative imaging in medicine and surgery · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Previous evidence suggests that the serotonin transporter gene (SLC6A4) is associated with the structure of brain regions that are critically involved in dysfunctional limbic-cortical network activity associated with major depressive disorder (MDD). Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and tract-based spatial statistics were used to investigate changes in white matter integrity in patients with MDD compared with healthy controls. A possible association between structural alterations in white matter tracts and DNA methylation of the SLC6A4 promoter region was also assessed. Thirty-five medication-naive patients with MDD (mean age: 40.34, male/female: 10/25) and age, gender and education level matched 49 healthy controls (mean age: 41.12, male/female: 15/34) underwent DTI. SLC6A4 DNA methylation was also measured at five CpG sites of the promoter region, and the cell type used was whole-blood DNA. Patients with MDD had significantly lower fractional anisotropy (FA) values for the genu of the corpus callosum and body of the corpus callosum than that in healthy controls (family-wise error corrected, P<0.01). Significant inverse correlations were observed between SLC6A4 DNA methylation and FA (CpG3, Pearson's correlation: r=-0.493, P=0.003) and axial diffusivity (CpG3, Pearson's correlation: r=-0.478, P=0.004) values of the body of the corpus callosum in patients with MDD. These results contribute to evidence indicating an association between epigenetic gene regulation and structural brain alterations in depression. Moreover, we believe this is the first report of a correlation between DNA methylation of the SLC6A4 promoter region and white matter integrity in patients with MDD.
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