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Pituitary gland volume in adolescent and young adult bipolar and unipolar depression
Author(s) -
MacMaster Frank P,
Leslie Ronald,
Rosenberg David R,
Kusumakar Vivek
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
bipolar disorders
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.285
H-Index - 129
eISSN - 1399-5618
pISSN - 1398-5647
DOI - 10.1111/j.1399-5618.2008.00476.x
Subject(s) - depression (economics) , medicine , pituitary gland , bipolar disorder , mood , mood disorders , endocrinology , psychology , psychiatry , hormone , anxiety , economics , macroeconomics
Objectives: Few studies have examined pituitary gland size in mood disorders, particularly in adolescents. We hypothesized increase in the pituitary gland size in early‐onset mood disorders. Methods: Thirty subjects between the ages of 13 and 20 years participated in the study. Three groups (control, bipolar I depression and unipolar depression) of 10 subjects each (4 male, 6 female) underwent volumetric magnetic resonance imaging at 1.5 T. Results: Analysis of covariance (covarying for age, sex and intracranial volume) revealed a significant difference in pituitary gland volume amongst the groups [ F (2,24) = 7.092, p = 0.014]. Post hoc analysis revealed that controls had a significantly smaller pituitary gland volume than both bipolar patients (p = 0.019) and depressed patients (p = 0.049). Bipolar and depressed subjects did not differ significantly from each other with regard to pituitary gland volume (p = 0.653). Control females had larger pituitary glands than control males [ F (1,8) = 10.523, p = 0.012], but no sex differences were noted in the mood disorder groups. Conclusions: Pituitary glands are enlarged in adolescents with mood disorders compared to controls. Healthy young females have larger pituitary glands than males, but such a difference is not evident in individuals with unipolar depression or bipolar disorder. These findings provide new evidence of abnormalities of the pituitary in early onset mood disorders, and are consistent with neuroendocrine dysfunction in early stages of such illnesses.