Prefrontal Structural Asymmetry Mediates Body Mass Index and Treatment Response in Major Depressive Disorder
Kaini Qiao, Zhenxiang Zang, Yun Wang, Xiongying Chen, Ke Liu, Zhifang Zhang, Rui Liu, Dong Li, Yanting Luo, Le Xiao, Xuequan Zhu, Jingjing Zhou, Zhi Yang, Gang Wang · 2026
Read Prefrontal Structural Asymmetry Mediates Body Mass Index and Treatment Response in Major Depressive Disorder by Kaini Qiao, Zhenxiang Zang, Yun Wang, Xiongying Chen, Ke Liu, Zhifang Zhang, Rui Liu, Dong Li, Yanting Luo, Le Xiao, Xuequan Zhu, Jingjing Zhou, Zhi Yang, Gang Wang (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/pmc-13199996.txt.
Description
Kaini Qiao and colleagues link body weight, brain shape, and depression treatment response in a 2026 study. Higher body mass index predicts weaker response to antidepressants. The pathway may run through brain structure: uneven thickness between brain halves in the frontal lobe, a region that steers mood control.
They studied 312 adults with major depression across two cohorts, with scans and twelve-week outcomes. Higher body mass consistently tied to stronger leftward thickness imbalance in the prefrontal cortex. That imbalance carried the link to poorer treatment response in the math models. Women showed an extra pathway through one frontal subregion that men lacked. Gene data pointed to metabolic signals in the flagged regions.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Kaini Qiao, Zhenxiang Zang, Yun Wang, Xiongying Chen, Ke Liu, Zhifang Zhang, Rui Liu, Dong Li, Yanting Luo, Le Xiao, Xuequan Zhu, Jingjing Zhou, Zhi Yang, Gang Wang |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 44 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |