Objective:This study aims to explore the characteristics of white matter microstruc-ture in adolescents with first-episode untreated depressive disorder by magnetic resonance diffusion tensor imaging(DTI).Methods:A total of 35 adolescents with first-episode untreated depressive disor-der(depression group)and 26 healthy volunteers matched for age,gender,and education level(control group)underwent DTI scanning.The whole-brain white matter fractional anisotropy(FA)was calcu-lated using FSL software.Voxel-based analysis(VBA)method was used to compare the difference of whole-brain white matter FA between the two groups,and the correlation between the changes of white matter microstructure and clinical data was analyzed in the depression group.Results:The Ham-ilton Depression Rating Scale-17(HAMD-17)scores in the depression group was higher than those in the control group(P＜0.01).Compared to the control group,the depression group showed increased FA values in the pontine and left cerebellar anterior lobe white matter(cluster-level P＜0.05,FWE corrected),with no brain regions exhibiting decreased FA values.The FA value of the pontine region was negatively correlated with the HAMD-17 score(r=-0.352,P=0.038)in the depression group.Conclusions:The pontocerebellar circuit is impaired in adolescents with first-episode untreated depres-sive disorder.The increased FA value of the white matter in the early stage of the disease may be caused by compensatory regeneration of nerve fibers.
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