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Electric field causes volumetric changes in the human brain
Miklos Argyelan1,2,3, Leif Oltedal4,5, Zhi-De Deng6
1Department of Psychiatry, The Zucker Hillside Hospital, Glen Oaks, United States.
Elife
|October 24, 2019
Summary
Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) increases brain region volumes, particularly in the amygdala and hippocampus, correlating with the electric field strength. However, these structural changes did not predict antidepressant response.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Neuroimaging
- Psychiatry
Background:
- Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) involves electrical stimulation, potentially causing both localized and generalized brain effects.
- Previous studies suggest a link between ECT's electrical stimulation and brain changes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between electric field (EF) modeling, regional brain volume changes, and antidepressant response in depression patients undergoing ECT.
- To identify specific brain regions where EF influences volume changes.
Main Methods:
- Utilized electric field (EF) modeling in 151 patients with depression treated with ECT.
- Analyzed longitudinal neuroimaging data to assess unbiased volumetric changes across 85 brain regions.
- Correlated regional volume changes with regional EF, controlling for age, treatment number, and study site.
Main Results:
- A majority of regional brain volumes increased significantly following ECT.
- Volumetric changes showed a significant correlation with the regional electric field (p=0.0003).
- The left amygdala and left hippocampus exhibited a strong association between EF and volume change (FDR corrected p<0.01).
Conclusions:
- Higher electrical fields in ECT are strongly associated with dose-dependent increases in regional brain volumes.
- Specific regions like the left amygdala and hippocampus show significant EF-volume change relationships.
- Neither structural volume changes nor electric field strength predicted antidepressant response in this cohort.
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