Brain imaging and behavior
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Brain Imaging Behav · Dec 2020
Comparative StudyVoxel-based morphometry results in first-episode schizophrenia: a comparison of publicly available software packages.
Investigations of brain structure in schizophrenia using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) have identified variations in regional grey matter (GM) volume throughout the brain but the results are mixed. This study aims to investigate whether the inconsistent voxel-based morphometry (VBM) findings in schizophrenia are due to the use of different software packages. T1 MRI images were obtained from 86 first-episode schizophrenia (FESZ) patients and 86 age- and gender-matched Healthy controls (HCs). ⋯ FSL-VBM revealed widespread GM volume reductions in FESZ patients compared with HCs, however, for SPM-VBM, only increased and circumscribed GM volume changes were found, both software revealed increased GM volume within cerebellum. Significant correlations between Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and GM volume were mainly found in frontal regions. Algorithms of GM tissue segmentation, image registration and statistical strategies might contribute to these disparate results.
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Brain Imaging Behav · Dec 2020
White matter volume alterations in hair-pulling disorder (trichotillomania).
Trichotillomania (TTM) is a disorder characterized by repetitive hair-pulling resulting in hair loss. Key processes affected in TTM comprise affective, cognitive, and motor functions. Emerging evidence suggests that brain matter aberrations in fronto-striatal and fronto-limbic brain networks and the cerebellum may characterize the pathophysiology of TTM. ⋯ No significant between-group differences were found for grey matter volumes. Our observations suggest regional alterations in cortico-limbic and cerebellar white matter in patients with TTM, which may underlie deficits in cognitive and affective processing. Such volumetric white matter changes may precipitate impaired cortico-cerebellar communication leading to a reduced ability to control hair pulling behavior.