Molecular Senescence Is Associated With White Matter Microstructural Damage in Late-Life Depression

The authors aim to investigate the association between white matter integrity and accelerated brain aging in late-life depression.

The authors measured senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP) index proteins, cognitive performance, and MRI diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) measures of fractional anisotropy and mean diffusivity-based indices of white matter microstructure measures in 56 older adults with remitted late-life depression.

Higher SASP index was significantly correlated with older age (r = 0.42, p = 0.001) and worse executive function performance (r = -0.27, p = 0.04). After controlling for the effect of age, overall cognitive performance, and white matter hyperintensities, the association between SASP and left and right cingulate bundle mean diffusivity remained statistically significant.

Our data suggest that, in the context of late-life depression, SASP proteins are associated with microstructural abnormalities in white matter tracts in brain and worse executive function performance.