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Subclinical Agoraphobia Symptoms and Regional Brain Volumes in Non-clinical Subjects: Between Compensation and Resilience?

ABSTRACT: Background: Symptoms of anxiety are present not only in panic disorder or other anxiety disorders, but are highly prevalent in the general population. Despite increasing biological research on anxiety disorders, there is little research on understanding subclinical or sub-threshold symptoms relating to anxiety in non-clinical community samples, which could give clues to factors relating to resilience or compensatory changes. Aims:This study focused on brain structural correlates of subclinical anxiety/agoraphobia symptoms from a multi-center imaging study. Methods: We obtained high-resolution structural T1 MRI scans of 409 healthy young participants and used the CAT12 toolbox for voxel-based morphometry (VBM) analysis. Subjects provided self-ratings of anxiety using the SCL-90-R, from which we used the phobia subscale, covering anxiety symptoms related to those of panic and agoraphobia spectrum. Results: We found significant (p < 0.05, FDR-corrected) correlations (mostly positive) of cortical volume with symptom severity, including the right lingual gyrus and calcarine sulcus, as well as left calcarine sulcus, superior, middle, and inferior temporal gyri. Uncorrected exploratory analysis also revealed positive correlations with GMV in orbitofrontal cortex, precuneus, and insula. Conclusions: Our findings show brain structural associations of subclinical symptoms of anxiety, which overlap with those seen in panic disorder or agoraphobia. This is consistent with a dimensional model of anxiety, which is reflected not only functionally but also on the structural level.

SUBMITTER: Besteher B

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6279873 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Subclinical Agoraphobia Symptoms and Regional Brain Volumes in Non-clinical Subjects: Between Compensation and Resilience?

Besteher Bianca B Squarcina Letizia L Spalthoff Robert R Bellani Marcella M Gaser Christian C Nenadić Igor I Brambilla Paolo P

Frontiers in psychiatry 20181128

<b>Background:</b> Symptoms of anxiety are present not only in panic disorder or other anxiety disorders, but are highly prevalent in the general population. Despite increasing biological research on anxiety disorders, there is little research on understanding subclinical or sub-threshold symptoms relating to anxiety in non-clinical community samples, which could give clues to factors relating to resilience or compensatory changes. <b>Aims:</b>This study focused on brain structural correlates of ...[more]

PMID: 30546323

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Project description:BackgroundCongenital heart disease (CHD) is common and is associated with impaired early brain development and neurodevelopmental outcomes, yet the exact mechanisms underlying these associations are unclear.PurposeTo utilize MRI data from a cohort of fetuses with CHD as well as typically developing fetuses to test the hypothesis that expected cerebral substrate delivery is associated with total and regional fetal brain volumes.Study typeRetrospective case-control study.PopulationThree hundred eighty fetuses (188 male), comprising 45 healthy controls and 335 with isolated CHD, scanned between 29 and 37 weeks gestation. Fetuses with CHD were assigned into one of four groups based on expected cerebral substrate delivery.Field strength/sequenceT2-weighted single-shot fast-spin-echo sequences and a balanced steady-state free precession gradient echo sequence were obtained on a 1.5 T scanner.AssessmentImages were motion-corrected and reconstructed using an automated slice-to-volume registration reconstruction technique, before undergoing segmentation using an automated pipeline and convolutional neural network that had undergone semi-supervised training. Differences in total, regional brain (cortical gray matter, white matter, deep gray matter, cerebellum, and brainstem) and brain:body volumes were compared between groups.Statistical testsANOVA was used to test for differences in brain volumes between groups, after accounting for sex and gestational age at scan. PFDR-values <0.05 were considered statistically significant.ResultsTotal and regional brain volumes were smaller in fetuses where cerebral substrate delivery is reduced. No significant differences were observed in total or regional brain volumes between control fetuses and fetuses with CHD but normal cerebral substrate delivery (all PFDR > 0.12). Severely reduced cerebral substrate delivery is associated with lower brain:body volume ratios.Data conclusionTotal and regional brain volumes are smaller in fetuses with CHD where there is a reduction in cerebral substrate delivery, but not in those where cerebral substrate delivery is expected to be normal.Evidence level3 TECHNICAL EFFICACY: Stage 3.

Project description:Broad-based species comparisons across mammalian orders suggest a number of factors that might influence the evolution of large brains. However, the relationship between these factors and total and regional brain size remains unclear. This study investigated the relationship between relative brain size and regional brain volumes and sociality in 13 felid species in hopes of revealing relationships that are not detected in more inclusive comparative studies. In addition, a more detailed analysis was conducted of four focal species: lions (Panthera leo), leopards (Panthera pardus), cougars (Puma concolor), and cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus). These species differ markedly in sociality and behavioral flexibility, factors hypothesized to contribute to increased relative brain size and/or frontal cortex size. Lions are the only truly social species, living in prides. Although cheetahs are largely solitary, males often form small groups. Both leopards and cougars are solitary. Of the four species, leopards exhibit the most behavioral flexibility, readily adapting to changing circumstances. Regional brain volumes were analyzed using computed tomography. Skulls (n = 75) were scanned to create three-dimensional virtual endocasts, and regional brain volumes were measured using either sulcal or bony landmarks obtained from the endocasts or skulls. Phylogenetic least squares regression analyses found that sociality does not correspond with larger relative brain size in these species. However, the sociality/solitary variable significantly predicted anterior cerebrum (AC) volume, a region that includes frontal cortex. This latter finding is despite the fact that the two social species in our sample, lions and cheetahs, possess the largest and smallest relative AC volumes, respectively. Additionally, an ANOVA comparing regional brain volumes in four focal species revealed that lions and leopards, while not significantly different from one another, have relatively larger AC volumes than are found in cheetahs or cougars. Further, female lions possess a significantly larger AC volume than conspecific males; female lion values were also larger than those of the other three species (regardless of sex). These results may reflect greater complexity in a female lion's social world, but additional studies are necessary. These data suggest that within family comparisons may reveal variations not easily detected by broad comparative analyses.

Dataset Information

Subclinical Agoraphobia Symptoms and Regional Brain Volumes in Non-clinical Subjects: Between Compensation and Resilience?

Publications

Subclinical Agoraphobia Symptoms and Regional Brain Volumes in Non-clinical Subjects: Between Compensation and Resilience?

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