Body mass index correlates negatively with white matter integrity in the fornix and corpus callosum: a diffusion tensor imaging study.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Xu J
PROVIDER: S-EPMC3314715 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:Abnormalities in the anterior interhemispheric connections provided by the corpus callosum (CC) have long been implicated in bipolar disorder (BD). In this study, we used complementary diffusion tensor imaging methods to study the structural integrity of the CC and localization of potential abnormalities in BD.Subjects included 33 participants with BD and 40 healthy comparison participants. Fractional anisotropy (FA) measures were compared between groups with region of interest (ROI) methods to investigate the anterior, middle, and posterior CC and voxel-based methods to further localize abnormalities.In ROI-based analyses, FA was significantly decreased in the anterior and middle CC in the BD group (p < .05). Voxel-based analyses similarly localized group differences to the genu, rostral body, and anterior midbody of CC (p < .05, corrected).The findings demonstrate abnormalities in the structural integrity of the anterior CC in BD that might contribute to altered interhemispheric connectivity in this disorder.
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Project description:Sex is considered an understudied variable in health research. Schizophrenia is a brain disorder with known sex differences in epidemiology and clinical presentation. We systematically reviewed the literature for sex-based differences of diffusion properties of white matter tracts in schizophrenia. We then conducted a meta-analysis examining sex-based differences in the genu and splenium of the corpus callosum in schizophrenia. Medline and Embase were searched to identify relevant papers. Studies fulfilling the following criteria were included: (1) included individuals with a diagnosis of schizophrenia, (2) included a control group of healthy individuals, (3) included both sexes in the patient and the control groups, (4) used diffusion tensor imaging, and (5) involved analyzing metrics of white matter microstructural integrity. Fractional anisotropy (FA) was used as the measure of interest in the meta-analysis. Of 730 studies reviewed, 75 met the inclusion criteria. Most showed no effect of sex, however, those that did found either that females have lower FA than males, or that the effect of disease in females is larger than that in males. The findings of the meta-analysis in the corpus callosum supported this result. There is a recognized need for studies on schizophrenia with a sufficient sample of female patients. Lack of power undermines the ability to detect sex-based differences. Understanding the sex-specific impact of illness on neural circuits may help inform development of new treatments, and improvement of existing interventions.
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Project description:The 21st birthday celebration is characterized by extreme alcohol consumption. Accumulating evidence suggests that high-dose bingeing is related to structural brain changes and cognitive deficits. This is particularly problematic in the transition from adolescence to adulthood when the brain is still maturing, elevating the brain's sensitivity to the acute effects of alcohol intoxication. Heavy drinking is associated with reduced structural integrity in the hippocampus and corpus callosum and is accompanied by cognitive deficits. However, there is little research examining changes in the human brain related to discrete heavy-drinking episodes. The present study investigated whether alcohol exposure during a 21st birthday celebration would result in changes to white matter microstructure by utilizing diffusion tensor imaging measures and a quasi-experimental design. By examining structural changes in the brain from pre- to postcelebration within subjects (N = 49) prospectively, we were able to more directly observe brain changes following an extreme-drinking episode. Region of interest analyses demonstrated increased fractional anisotropy in the posterior fornix (p < .0001) and in the body of the corpus callosum (p = .0029) from pre- to postbirthday celebration. These results suggest acute white matter damage to the fornix and corpus callosum following an extreme-drinking episode, which is especially problematic during continued neurodevelopment. Therefore, 21st birthday drinking may be considered an important target event for preventing acute brain injury in young adults. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
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Project description:The axon guidance receptor, Robo1, controls the pathfinding of callosal axons in mice. To determine whether the orthologous ROBO1 gene is involved in callosal development also in humans, we studied polymorphisms in the ROBO1 gene and variation in the white matter structure in the corpus callosum using both structural magnetic resonance imaging and diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging. We found that five polymorphisms in the regulatory region of ROBO1 were associated with white matter density in the posterior part of the corpus callosum pathways. One of the polymorphisms, rs7631357, was also significantly associated with the probability of connections to the parietal cortical regions. Our results demonstrate that human ROBO1 may be involved in the regulation of the structure and connectivity of posterior part of corpus callosum.
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Project description:Internet gaming disorder (IGD) is usually defined as the inability of an individual to control internet gaming resulting in serious negative consequences, and trait impulsivity has been viewed as a hallmark feature of IGD. Recent studies have suggested that the structural integrity of the white matter (WM) plays an important role in the neuromediation of an individual's impulsivity. However, no study has examined the association between WM integrity and impulsivity in IGD adolescents.In this study, 33 adolescents with IGD and 32 healthy controls (HCs) were recruited, and the intergroup differences in the relationships between impulsivity and fractional anisotropy (FA) values across the whole brain WM were investigated using voxel-wise correlation analyses.Our results revealed significant intergroup differences in the correlations between impulsivity and the FA values of the right corticospinal tract (CST) and the right occipital WM. Region of interest-based tests revealed that the FA values of these clusters were positive or insignificantly correlated with impulsivity in the IGD adolescents contrasted to the significantly negative correlation in the HCs.This altered correlations in the IGD adolescents might reflect potential WM microstructural changes which may be associated with the greater impulsivity of IGD adolescents and provide possible therapeutic targets for interventions in this population.
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Project description:The relationship between creativity and psychopathology has been a controversial research topic for decades. Specifically, it has been shown that people with schizophrenia have an impairment in creative performance. However, little is known about the brain correlates underlying this impairment. Therefore, the aim of this study was to analyze whole brain white matter (WM) correlates of several creativity dimensions in people with schizophrenia. Fifty-five patients with schizophrenia underwent diffusion-weighted imaging on a 3T magnetic resonance imaging machine as well as a clinical and a creativity assessment, including verbal and figural creativity measures. Tract-based spatial statistic, implemented in FMRIB Software Library (FSL), was used to assess whole brain WM correlates with different creativity dimensions, controlling for sex, age, premorbid IQ, and medication. Mean fractional anisotropy (FA) in frontal, temporal, subcortical, brain stem, and interhemispheric regions correlated positively with figural originality. The most significant clusters included the right corticospinal tract (cerebral peduncle part) and the right body of the corpus callosum. Verbal creativity did not show any significant correlation. As a whole, these findings suggest that widespread WM integrity is involved in creative performance of patients with schizophrenia. Many of these areas have also been related to creativity in healthy people. In addition, some of these regions have shown to be particularly impaired in schizophrenia, suggesting that these WM alterations could be underlying the worse creative performance found in this pathology.
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Project description:OBJECTIVE:To quantify racial differences in brain structural characteristics in white and black octogenarians, and to examine whether these characteristics contribute to cognition. METHODS:Cross-sectional study of 283 adults 79-89 years old (59.4% white;42.0% women) with data on gray matter integrity via diffusion tensor imaging (mean diffusivity), gray matter atrophy (GMA), white matter hyperintensities (WMH), literacy, smoking, drinking, income, hypertension and diabetes. Participants were recruited from an ongoing epidemiological study of older adults living in the community with a range of chronic conditions, physical and cognitive function. Standardized betas (s?) of neuroimaging markers predicting Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST) and Modified Mini-Mental State Examination (3MS) scores were computed in multivariable regression models stratified by race. RESULTS:Compared to whites, blacks had lower DSST (p=0.001) and lower 3MS (p=0.006), but also lower mean diffusivity (i.e. higher gray matter microstructural integrity, p=0.032), independent of gender, income, literacy, body mass index, diabetes and drinking habits. Racial differences were not significant for WMH (p=0.062) or GMA (p=0.4). Among blacks, mean diffusivity and WMH were associated with DSST (s?=-.209, p=0.037 and -.211, p=.038, respectively) independent of each other and other covariates; among whites, mean diffusivity, but not WMH, was significantly associated with DSST and 3MS (s? =-.277, p=.002 and -.250, p=0.029, respectively). CONCLUSIONS:In this cohort of octogenarians living in the community, blacks appeared to have higher microstructural integrity of gray matter as compared to whites. This neuroimaging marker was related to higher cognition even in the presence of WMH and other cardiovascular conditions. If confirmed, these findings suggest microstructural gray matter integrity may be a target to improve cognition, especially among blacks who survive to very old age with a range of chronic cardiovascular conditions.
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Project description:A number of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies have revealed morphological cortical asymmetry in the normal human brain, and reduction or inversion of such hemispheric asymmetry has been reported in schizophrenia. On the other hand, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) studies have reported inconsistent findings concerning abnormal asymmetry of white matter integrity in schizophrenia. Our aim was to confirm whether there is reduced or inverted asymmetry of white matter integrity in the whole brain in schizophrenia. For this study, 26 right-handed schizophrenia patients, and 32 matched healthy control subjects were investigated. Voxelwise analysis of DTI data was performed using the tract-based spatial statistics. The fractional anisotropy (FA) images were normalized and projected onto the symmetrical white matter skeleton, and the laterality index (LI) of FA, determined by 2 × (left - right)/(left + right), was calculated. The results reveal that schizophrenia patients and healthy controls showed similar patterns of overall FA asymmetries. In the group comparison, patients showed significant reduction of LI in the external capsule (EC), and posterior limb of the internal capsule (PLIC). The EC cluster revealed increased rightward asymmetry, and the PLIC cluster showed reduced leftward asymmetry. Rightward-shift of FA in the EC cluster correlated with negative symptom severity. Considering that the EC cluster includes the uncinate and inferior occipitofrontal fasciculi, which have connections to the orbitofrontal cortex, abnormal asymmetry of white matter integrity in schizophrenia may play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia, through the altered connectivity to the orbitofrontal cortex.
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