Gray matter volume reduction in orbitofrontal cortex correlated with plasma glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) levels within major depressive disorder

Background: Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a severe mental disorder characterized by reduced gray matter volume (GMV). To date, the pathogenesis of MDD remains unclear, but neurotrophic factors play an essential role in the pathophysiological alterations of MDD during disease development. In particular, plasma glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) has been suggested as a potential biomarker that may be associated with disease activity and neurological progression in MDD. Our study investigated whether plasma GDNF levels in MDD patients and healthy controls (HCs) are correlated with GMV alterations. Methods: We studied 54 MDD patients and 48 HCs. The effect of different diagnoses on whole-brain GMV was investigated using ANOVA (Analysis of Variance). The threshold of significance was p