Immediate (time 1) and delayed (time 2) recognition performance as a function of facial expression and coping style (number of correct recognitions (hits) and false alarms).

<p><b><i>Note: time 1 =  after 30 minutes; time 2 =  after 3 days.</i></b></p><p>Immediate (time 1) and delayed (time 2) recognition performance as a function of facial expression and coping style (number of correct recognitions (hits) and false alarms).</p

Between-group differences in brain response to angry facial expression compared to neutral faces.

<p>Enhanced brain activations of repressors compared to sensitizers (MNI coordinates). The activations are significant at p<0.05, k = 50 (FDR corrected). Reader's right is subjects' right.</p

Brain regions with heightened activation of sensitizers compared to repressors in the neutral versus angry face contrast.

a<p>Brodmann areas.</p>b<p>L = left, R = right.</p>c<p>Coordinates of the maximal point of activation and the associated Z-values are shown. The activations are significant at p<0.05, k = 50 (FDR corrected).</p><p>Brain regions with heightened activation of sensitizers compared to repressors in the neutral versus angry face contrast.</p

Discrimination performance (H (hit rate (number of hits/30)) – FA (false alarm rate (number of false alarms/210))) as a function of facial expression and coping style.

<p><b><i>Note: time 1 =  after 30 minutes; time 2 =  after 3 days.</i></b></p><p>Discrimination performance (H (hit rate (number of hits/30)) – FA (false alarm rate (number of false alarms/210))) as a function of facial expression and coping style.</p

Descriptive characteristics of study participants.

<p><i>Note.</i> MCI: Mainz Coping Inventory; WAIS-R: Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale – revised form; STAI: State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, state and trait version; BDI: Beck Depression Inventory.</p><p>Descriptive characteristics of study participants.</p

Clinical characteristics of the patients' sample (n = 132).

<p>MDD: major depressive disorder.</p><p>SD  =  standard deviation.</p><p>MWT-B: Multiple-choice vocabulary test.</p><p>HDRS: Hamilton Depression Rating Scale.</p><p>BDI: Beck's Depression Inventory.</p><p>* Group differences were computed using independent sample t-test for continuous and Chi-square-test for categorial variables. The level of statistical significance was set at p<0.05.</p

Gray matter volume reductions in whole brain analysis.

<p>Gray matter volume reductions in all MDD patients versus healthy controls (orange), and patients with recurrent depressive episodes versus healthy controls (red) (<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0102692#pone-0102692-t003" target="_blank">Table 3</a>). (Whole brain analyses, p<0.001, k = 139; view: MNI: 36 23 -5).</p

Insular and Hippocampal Gray Matter Volume Reductions in Patients with Major Depressive Disorder

<div><p>Background</p><p>Major depressive disorder is a serious psychiatric illness with a highly variable and heterogeneous clinical course. Due to the lack of consistent data from previous studies, the study of morphometric changes in major depressive disorder is still a major point of research requiring additional studies. The aim of the study presented here was to characterize and quantify regional gray matter abnormalities in a large sample of clinically well-characterized patients with major depressive disorder.</p><p>Methods</p><p>For this study one-hundred thirty two patients with major depressive disorder and 132 age- and gender-matched healthy control participants were included, 35 with their first episode and 97 with recurrent depression. To analyse gray matter abnormalities, voxel-based morphometry (VBM8) was employed on T1 weighted MRI data. We performed whole-brain analyses as well as a region-of-interest approach on the hippocampal formation, anterior cingulate cortex and amygdala, correlating the number of depressive episodes.</p><p>Results</p><p>Compared to healthy control persons, patients showed a strong gray-matter reduction in the right anterior insula. In addition, region-of-interest analyses revealed significant gray-matter reductions in the hippocampal formation. The observed alterations were more severe in patients with recurrent depressive episodes than in patients with a first episode. The number of depressive episodes was negatively correlated with gray-matter volume in the right hippocampus and right amygdala.</p><p>Conclusions</p><p>The anterior insula gray matter structure appears to be strongly affected in major depressive disorder and might play an important role in the neurobiology of depression. The hippocampal and amygdala volume loss cumulating with the number of episodes might be explained either by repeated neurotoxic stress or alternatively by higher relapse rates in patients showing hippocampal atrophy.</p></div

Correlations between mean cluster activation in regions with heightened response to angry faces (in repressors compared to sensitizers (see Table 5)) and discrimination performance H-FA for angry faces at time 1 and time 2 and loss of discrimination accuracy for angry faces from time 1 to time 2 (H-FA time1 minus H-FA time2) as a function of coping style.

a<p>Coordinates of the maximal point of activation within clusters, k =  cluster size.</p><p>Correlations between mean cluster activation in regions with heightened response to angry faces (in repressors compared to sensitizers (see <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0112398#pone-0112398-t005" target="_blank">Table 5</a>)) and discrimination performance H-FA for angry faces at time 1 and time 2 and loss of discrimination accuracy for angry faces from time 1 to time 2 (H-FA time1 minus H-FA time2) as a function of coping style.</p

Sociodemographic characteristics of the whole sample.

<p>SD  =  standard deviation.</p><p>MWT-B: Multiple-choice vocabulary test.</p><p>* Group differences were computed using independent sample t-test for continuous and Chi-square-test for categorial variables. The level of statistical significance was set at p<0.05.</p