Transcriptomic Signatures Associated With Gray Matter Volume Changes in Patients With Functional Constipation

Functional constipation, which belongs to the functional gastrointestinal disorder (FGID), is a common disease and significantly impacts daily life. FGID patients have been progressively proven with functional and structural alterations in various brain regions, but whether and how functional constipation affects the brain gray matter volume (GMV) remains unclear; besides, which genes are associated with the GMV changes in functional constipation is largely unknown. On account of the structural MRI image from the 30 functional constipation patients and 30 healthy controls (HCs), GMV analysis showed that functional constipation patients had significantly decreased GMV in the right orbital prefrontal cortex (OFC), left precentral gyrus (PreG), and bilateral thalamus (THA). Correlation analysis showed that the self-rating depressive scale, patient assessment of constipation quality of life (PAC-QOL), and Wexner constipation scores were negatively correlated with GMV of the OFC and negative correlations between PAC-QOL score and GMV of the bilateral THA. Based on the Allen Human Brain Atlas, a cross-sample spatial correlation was conducted and found that 18 genes’ expression values showed robust correlations with GMV changes in functional constipation patients. These outcomes highlight our recognition of the transcriptional features related to GMV changes in functional constipation and could be regarded as candidates to detect biological mechanisms of abnormality in functional constipation patients.

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Rajyoga Meditation Experience Induces Enhanced Positive Thoughts and Alters Gray Matter Volume of Brain Regions: A Cross-sectional Study

Mindfulness ◽

10.1007/s12671-021-01630-8 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Ramesh Babu M G ◽

Rajagopal Kadavigere ◽

Prakashini Koteshwara ◽

Brijesh Sathian ◽

Kiranmai S. Rai

Keyword(s):

Gray Matter ◽

Morphometric Analysis ◽

Gray Matter Volume ◽

Structural Mri ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Volume Changes ◽

Matter Volume ◽

Left Posterior ◽

Meditation Experience ◽

The Right

Abstract Objectives Many studies on various meditation types have reported regional gray matter volume changes using voxel-based morphometric analysis of structural MRI, but there are no studies done on structural MRI of Rajyoga meditators. The objective of the present study is to analyze and compare gray matter volume changes of brain regions in meditators and non-meditators and further study the effects of meditation experience on alterations in various brain regions. These regions were then correlated and compared to positive thought scores of participants. Methods Forty participants in each group (closely matched for age, gender, and handedness) were selected after obtaining their informed consent, and voxel-based morphometric analysis was carried out using their structural MRI scans. Results On voxel-wise comparison of the brain scans, meditators were observed to have significantly higher global gray matter volume and significant regional gray matter volume increases in the right superior frontal gyrus, left inferior orbitofrontal cortex, left inferior parietal gyrus, left posterior cerebellum, left middle temporal gyrus, bilateral precuneus, and cuneus. Additionally, long-term meditators particularly had significantly higher positive thinking scores compared to non-meditators. On multiple regression analysis, gray matter volume of the left superior parietal gyrus and left inferior parietal gyrus had a positive association, whereas the left posterior cerebellum had a negative association with hours of meditation experience. With the positive thoughts score, a significant relationship was found in the right superior temporal gyrus in meditators. Conclusions These findings indicate that Rajyoga meditation experience/practice enhances gray matter volume of specific brain regions and positive thoughts.

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Greater hippocampal gray matter volume in subjective hyperosmia: a voxel-based morphometry study

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-020-75898-6 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Pengfei Han ◽

Franz Paul Stiller-Stut ◽

Alexander Fjaeldstad ◽

Thomas Hummel

Keyword(s):

Gray Matter ◽

Emotional Experience ◽

Gray Matter Volume ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Precentral Gyrus ◽

Voxel Based Morphometry ◽

Whole Brain ◽

Superior Frontal Gyrus ◽

Matter Volume ◽

Olfactory Ability

Abstract Subjective hyperosmia refers to a self-reported olfactory ability that is superior to a normal, intact sense of smell (normosmia), and is associated with olfactory emotional experience. The current study used voxel-based morphometry to investigate the gray matter volume (GMV) in people with self-rated hyperosmia (subjective hyperosmia, SH, N = 18) in comparison to people with self-rated normal olfaction (subjective normosmia, SN, N = 14). Participants’ olfactory function were assessed by the extensive olfactory test battery, the “Sniffin’ Sticks” test. Within the predicted brain regions (regions-of-interest analyses), the SH participants showed larger GMV of the left hippocampus as compared to SN participants (FWE corrected p < 0.05). Further, the whole-brain search indicated that SH had larger GMV of the bilateral hippocampus, the right hypothalamus, the left precuneus, and the left superior frontal gyrus as compared to the SN group. ROI analyses showed positive correlations between the left hippocampal GMV and odor threshold or discrimination scores across all participants. In addition, the whole-brain analysis suggested that the self-rated olfactory ability was positively associated with GMV in the cerebellum, superior frontal gyrus and the precentral gyrus among SH participants. In conclusion, the current results suggest that SH was associated with increased GMV in several brain regions that were previously shown to be involved in the processing of cognitive aspects of odors.

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Sleep Duration, Sleep Apnea, and Gray Matter Volume

Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry and Neurology ◽

10.1177/0891988720988918 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 089198872098891

Author(s):

Regina Eun Young Kim ◽

Robert Douglas Abbott ◽

Soriul Kim ◽

Robert Joseph Thomas ◽

Chang-Ho Yun ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Sleep Apnea ◽

Sleep Duration ◽

Gray Matter ◽

Gray Matter Volume ◽

Brain Structures ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Population Based ◽

Older Individuals ◽

Bootstrap Sampling ◽

Matter Volume

This study aimed to evaluate the effect of sleep duration on brain structures in the presence versus absence of sleep apnea in middle-aged and older individuals. The study investigated a population-based sample of 2,560 individuals, aged 49-80 years. The presence of sleep apnea and self-reported sleep duration were examined in relation to gray matter volume (GMV) in total and lobar brain regions. We identified ranges of sleep duration associated with maximal GMV using quadratic regression and bootstrap sampling. A significant quadratic association between sleep duration and GMV was observed in total and lobar brain regions of men with sleep apnea. In the fully adjusted model, optimal sleep durations associated with peak GMV between brain regions ranged from 6.7 to 7.0 hours. Shorter and longer sleep durations were associated with lower GMV in total and 4 sub-regions of the brain in men with sleep apnea.

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SLC25A24 gene methylation and gray matter volume in females with and without conduct disorder: an exploratory epigenetic neuroimaging study

Translational Psychiatry ◽

10.1038/s41398-021-01609-y ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Elizabeth Farrow ◽

Andreas G. Chiocchetti ◽

Jack C. Rogers ◽

Ruth Pauli ◽

Nora M. Raschle ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Environmental Factors ◽

Conduct Disorder ◽

Gray Matter ◽

Gray Matter Volume ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Posterior Cingulate Cortex ◽

Chromosome 1 ◽

Matter Volume ◽

Cu Traits ◽

Genetic And Environmental Factors

AbstractConduct disorder (CD), a psychiatric disorder characterized by a repetitive pattern of antisocial behaviors, results from a complex interplay between genetic and environmental factors. The clinical presentation of CD varies both according to the individual’s sex and level of callous-unemotional (CU) traits, but it remains unclear how genetic and environmental factors interact at the molecular level to produce these differences. Emerging evidence in males implicates methylation of genes associated with socio-affective processes. Here, we combined an epigenome-wide association study with structural neuroimaging in 51 females with CD and 59 typically developing (TD) females to examine DNA methylation in relation to CD, CU traits, and gray matter volume (GMV). We demonstrate an inverse pattern of correlation between CU traits and methylation of a chromosome 1 region in CD females (positive) as compared to TD females (negative). The identified region spans exon 1 of the SLC25A24 gene, central to energy metabolism due to its role in mitochondrial function. Increased SLC25A24 methylation was also related to lower GMV in multiple brain regions in the overall cohort. These included the superior frontal gyrus, prefrontal cortex, and supramarginal gyrus, secondary visual cortex and ventral posterior cingulate cortex, which are regions that have previously been implicated in CD and CU traits. While our findings are preliminary and need to be replicated in larger samples, they provide novel evidence that CU traits in females are associated with methylation levels in a fundamentally different way in CD and TD, which in turn may relate to observable variations in GMV across the brain.

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Association between cytomegalovirus infection, reduced gray matter volume, and resting-state functional hypoconnectivity in major depressive disorder: a replication and extension

Translational Psychiatry ◽

10.1038/s41398-021-01558-6 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Haixia Zheng ◽

Bart N. Ford ◽

Rayus Kuplicki ◽

Kaiping Burrows ◽

Peter W. Hunt ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Major Depressive Disorder ◽

Depressive Disorder ◽

Gray Matter ◽

Resting State ◽

Gray Matter Volume ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Affective Processing ◽

Resting State Functional Connectivity ◽

Major Depressive ◽

Matter Volume

AbstractHuman cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is a neurotropic herpes virus known to cause neuropathology in patients with impaired immunity. Previously, we reported a reduction in the gray matter volume (GMV) of several brain regions in two independent samples of participants who were seropositive for HCMV (HCMV+) compared to matched participants who were seronegative for HCMV (HCMV−). In addition to an independent replication of the GMV findings, this study aimed to examine whether HCMV+ was associated with differences in resting-state functional connectivity (rsfMRI-FC). After balancing on 11 clinical/demographic variables using inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW), GMV and rsfMRI-FC were obtained from 99 participants with major depressive disorder (MDD) who were classified into 42 HCMV+ and 57 HCMV− individuals. Relative to the HCMV− group, the HCMV+ group showed a significant reduction of GMV in nine cortical regions. Volume reduction in the right lateral orbitofrontal cortex (standardized beta coefficient (SBC) = −0.32, [95%CI, −0.62 to −0.02]) and the left pars orbitalis (SBC = −0.34, [95%CI, −0.63 to −0.05]) in the HCMV+ group was also observed in the previous study. Regardless of the parcellation method or analytical approach, relative to the HCMV− group, the HCMV+ group showed hypoconnectivity between the hubs of the sensorimotor network (bilateral postcentral gyrus) and the hubs of the salience network (bilateral insula) with effect sizes ranging from SBC = −0.57 to −0.99. These findings support the hypothesis that a positive HCMV serostatus is associated with altered connectivity of regions that are important for stress and affective processing and further supports a possible etiological role of HCMV in depression.

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Social Cognition and Emotional Assessment (SEA) is a Marker of Medial and Orbital Frontal Functions: A Voxel-Based Morphometry Study in Behavioral Variant of Frontotemporal Degeneration

Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society ◽

10.1017/s1355617712001300 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 18 (6) ◽

pp. 972-985 ◽

Cited By ~ 44

Author(s):

Maxime Bertoux ◽

Emmanuelle Volle ◽

Aurélie Funkiewiez ◽

Leonardo Cruz de Souza ◽

Delphine Leclercq ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Social Cognition ◽

Theory Of Mind ◽

Reversal Learning ◽

Gray Matter ◽

Gray Matter Volume ◽

Structural Mri ◽

Voxel Based Morphometry ◽

Matter Volume ◽

Early Stages ◽

Emotional Assessment

AbstractThe aim of this study was to explore the cerebral correlates of functional deficits that occur in behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD). A specific neuropsychological battery, the Social cognition & Emotional Assessment (SEA; Funkiewiez et al., 2012), was used to assess impaired social and emotional functions in 20 bvFTD patients who also underwent structural MRI scanning. The SEA subscores of theory of mind, reversal-learning tests, facial emotion identification, and apathy evaluation were entered as covariates in a voxel-based morphometry analysis. The results revealed that the gray matter volume in the rostral part of the medial prefrontal cortex [mPFC, Brodmann area (BA) 10] was associated with scores on the theory of mind subtest, while gray matter volume within the orbitofrontal (OFC) and ventral mPFC (BA 11 and 47) was related to the scores observed in the reversal-learning subtest. Gray matter volume within BA 9 in the mPFC was correlated with scores on the emotion recognition subtest, and the severity of apathetic symptoms in the Apathy scale covaried with gray matter volume in the lateral PFC (BA 44/45). Among these regions, the mPFC and OFC cortices have been shown to be atrophied in the early stages of bvFTD. In addition, SEA and its abbreviated version (mini-SEA) have been demonstrated to be sensitive to early impairments in bvFTD (Bertoux et al., 2012). Taken together, these results suggest a differential involvement of orbital and medial prefrontal subregions in SEA subscores and support the use of the SEA to evaluate the integrity of these regions in the early stages of bvFTD. (JINS, 2012, 18, 972–985)

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Permutation and parametric tests for effect sizes in voxel-based morphometry of gray matter volume in brain structural MRI

Magnetic Resonance Imaging ◽

10.1016/j.mri.2015.07.014 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 33 (10) ◽

pp. 1299-1305 ◽

Cited By ~ 19

Author(s):

David A. Dickie ◽

Shadia Mikhael ◽

Dominic E. Job ◽

Joanna M. Wardlaw ◽

David H. Laidlaw ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Gray Matter ◽

Gray Matter Volume ◽

Structural Mri ◽

Effect Sizes ◽

Voxel Based Morphometry ◽

Matter Volume

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Daily and Intermittent Smoking Decrease Gray Matter Volume and Concentrations of Glutamate, Creatine, Myo-Inositol and N-acetylaspartate in the Prefrontal Cortex

10.1101/2020.09.08.288050 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Paul Faulkner ◽

Susanna Lucini Paioni ◽

Petya Kozhuharova ◽

Natasza Orlov ◽

David J. Lythgoe ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Prefrontal Cortex ◽

Medial Prefrontal Cortex ◽

Gray Matter ◽

Smoking Status ◽

Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽

Gray Matter Volume ◽

Structural Mri ◽

Resonance Spectroscopy ◽

Matter Volume ◽

The Right

AbstractCigarette smoking is still the largest contributor to disease and death worldwide. Successful cessation is hindered by decreases in prefrontal glutamate concentrations and gray matter volume due to daily smoking. Because non-daily, intermittent smoking also contributes greatly to disease and death, understanding whether infrequent tobacco use is associated with reductions in prefrontal glutamate concentrations and gray matter volume may aid public health. Eighty-five young participants (41 non-smokers, 24 intermittent smokers, 20 daily smokers, mean age ~23 years old), underwent 1H-magnetic resonance spectroscopy of the medial prefrontal cortex, as well as structural MRI to determine whole-brain gray matter volume. Compared to non-smokers, both daily and intermittent smokers exhibited lower concentrations of glutamate, creatine, N-acetylaspartate and myo-inositol in the medial prefrontal cortex, and lower gray matter volume in the right inferior frontal gyrus; these measures of prefrontal metabolites and structure did not differ between daily and intermittent smokers. Finally, medial prefrontal metabolite concentrations and right inferior frontal gray matter volume were positively correlated, but these relationships were not influenced by smoking status. This study provides the first evidence that both daily and intermittent smoking are associated with low concentrations of glutamate, creatine, N-acetylaspartate and myo-inositol, and low gray matter volume in the prefrontal cortex. Future tobacco cessation efforts should not ignore potential deleterious effects of intermittent smoking by considering only daily smokers. Finally, because low glutamate concentrations hinder cessation, treatments that can normalize tonic levels of prefrontal glutamate, such as N-acetylcysteine, may help intermittent and daily smokers to quit.

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The neurobiology of smartphone addiction in emerging adults evaluated using brain morphometry and resting-state functional MRI

Neuroscience Research Notes ◽

10.31117/neuroscirn.v4i4.107 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 4 (4) ◽

pp. 19-28

Author(s):

Aida Abdul Rashid ◽

Subapriya Suppiah ◽

Nisha Syed Nasser ◽

Hamed Sharifat ◽

Mazlyfarina Mohamad ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Emerging Adults ◽

Functional Mri ◽

Gray Matter ◽

Resting State ◽

Gray Matter Volume ◽

Smartphone Addiction ◽

Grey Matter Volume ◽

Precentral Gyrus ◽

Matter Volume ◽

Psychosocial Wellbeing

The characteristics of smartphone addiction (SPA) can be evaluated by neuroimaging studies. Information on the brain structural alterations, and effects on psychosocial wellbeing, however, have not been concurrently evaluated. The aim of this study was to identify abnormalities in gray matter volume using voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and neuronal functional alterations using resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) in emerging adults with SPA. We correlated the neuroimaging parameters with indices for psychosocial wellbeing such as depression, anxiety, stress, and impulsivity. Forty participants (20 SPA and 20 age-matched healthy controls) were assessed using VBM and rs-fMRI. The smartphone addiction scale – Malay version (SAS-M) questionnaire scores were used to categorize the SPA and healthy control groups. DASS-21 and BIS-11 questionnaires were used to assess for psychosocial wellbeing and impulsivity, respectively. VBM identified the SPA group to have reduced gray matter volume in the insula and precentral gyrus; and increased grey matter volume in the precuneus relative to controls. Moderate correlation was observed between the precuneus volume and the SAS-M scores. Individuals with SPA showed significant rs-fMRI activations in the precuneus, and posterior cingulate cortex (FWE uncorrected, p<0.001). The severity of SPA was correlated with depression. Anxiety score was moderately correlated with reduced GMV at the precentral gyrus. Collectively, these results can be used to postulate that the structural and neuronal functional changes in the insula are linked to the neurobiology of SPA that shares similarities with other behavioural addictions.

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