RESUMO
Objective@#To explore the topological properties of the degree and strength of nodes in the binary and weighted brain white matter networks of the patients with psychogenic erectile dysfunction (pED) and analyze the changes of myelin integrity, number and length of the white matter fibers in the topological space.@*METHODS@#Diffusion tensor imaging data were obtained from 21 patients with pED and 24 healthy controls matched in sex, age, and years of education and subjected to preprocessing. The whole cerebral cortex was divided into 90 regions, followed by fiber tracking, construction of the binary and weighted white matter networks, and calculation of the node degrees and connectivity strengths in different brain regions. The property values were compared between the two groups using the two-sample t-test, the results were corrected by multiple testing correction, and the correlation of the property values with the erectile function of the patients was subjected to Pearson's correlation analysis.@*RESULTS@#Compared with the healthy controls, the pED patients showed significantly decreased node degree of the left triangular part of inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) (7.54±1.44 vs 5.95±1.28, t = －3.88, corrected P = 0.02), medial orbital part of superior frontal gyrus (SFG) (10.08±3.60 vs 6.29±3.30, t = －3.67, corrected P = 0.02), and amygdala (6.50±2.11 vs 4.29±1.31, t = －4.16, corrected P = 0.01) in the binary networks, as well as the connectivity strength of the left triangular part of IFG (2.50±0.68 vs 1.72±0.50, t = －4.35, corrected P = 0.01), medial orbital part of SFG (3.17±0.97 vs 2.08±1.10, t = －3.53, corrected P = 0.03), and amygdala (1.80±0.69 vs 1.11±0.39, t = －4.03, corrected P = 0.01) in the fractional anisotropy (FA) weighted networks. The node degree of the left amygdala was negatively correlated with the total score (r = －0.47,P = 0.04), second item score (r = －0.46, P = 0.03), and third item score of IIEF-5 (r = －0.45, P = 0.04) in the pED patients.@*CONCLUSIONS@#The myelin integrity of the white matter fibers in the left frontal lobe and amygdale is impaired in pED patients, which leads to the aberrant generation, processing and regulation of their emotions. The decreased pivotal role and importance of the white matter fibers connecting the left amygdale may be associated with pED.