Distinct gray matter abnormalities in children/adolescents and adults with history of childhood maltreatment.

Gray matter (GM) abnormalities have been reported in both adults and children/adolescents with histories of childhood maltreatment (CM). A comparison of effects in youth and adulthood may be informative regarding life-span effects of CM. Voxel-wise meta-analyses of whole-brain voxel-based morphometry studies were conducted in all datasets and age-based subgroups respectively, followed by a quantitative comparison of the subgroups. Thirty VBM studies (31 datasets) were included. The pooled meta-analysis revealed increased GM in left supplementary motor area, and reduced GM in bilateral cingulate/paracingulate gyri, left occipital lobe, and right middle frontal gyrus in maltreated individuals compared to the controls. Maltreatment-exposed youth showed less GM in the cerebellum, and greater GM in bilateral middle cingulate/paracingulate gyri and bilateral visual cortex than maltreated adults. Opposite GM alterations in bilateral middle cingulate/paracingulate gyri were found in maltreatment-exposed adults (decreased) and children/adolescents (increased). Our findings demonstrate different patterns of GM changes in youth closer to maltreatment events than those seen later in life, suggesting detrimental effects of CM on the developmental trajectory of brain structure.

Failure of activation of striatum during the performance of executive function tasks in adult patients with bipolar disorder.

BACKGROUND: Although numerous studies have used functional neuroimaging to identify executive dysfunction in patients with bipolar disorder (BD), the findings are not consistent. The aim of this meta-analysis is to identify the most reliable functional anomalies in BD patients during performance of Executive Function (EF) tasks. METHODS: A web-based search was performed on publication databases to identify functional magnetic resonance imaging studies of BD patients performing EF tasks and a voxel-based meta-analytic method known as anisotropic Effect Size Signed Differential Mapping (ES-SDM) was used to identify brain regions which showed anomalous activity in BD patients compared with healthy controls (HC). RESULTS: Twenty datasets consisting of 463 BD patients and 484 HC were included. Compared with HC, BD patients showed significant hypo-activation or failure of activation in the left striatum (p = 0.00007), supplementary motor area (BA 6, p = 0.00037), precentral gyrus (BA 6, p = 0.0014) and cerebellum (BA 37, p = 0.0019), and hyper-activation in the left gyrus rectus (BA 11, p ≈ 0) and right middle temporal gyrus (BA 22, p = 0.00031) during performance of EF tasks. Sensitivity and subgroup analyses showed that the anomaly of left striatum is consistent across studies and present in both euthymic and BD I patients. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with BD consistently showed abnormal activation in the cortico-striatal system during performance of EF tasks compared with HC. Failure of activation of the striatum may be a reliable marker for impairment in performance of especially inhibition tasks by patients with BD.

Gray Matter Structural Alterations in Social Anxiety Disorder: A Voxel-Based Meta-Analysis.

The current insight into the neurobiological pathogenesis underlying social anxiety disorder (SAD) is still rather limited. We implemented a meta-analysis to explore the neuroanatomical basis of SAD. We undertook a systematic search of studies comparing gray matter volume (GMV) differences between SAD patients and healthy controls (HC) using a whole-brain voxel-based morphometry (VBM) approach. The anisotropic effect size version of seed-based d mapping (AES-SDM) meta-analysis was conducted to explore the GMV differences of SAD patients compared with HC. We included eleven studies with 470 SAD patients and 522 HC in the current meta-analysis. In the main meta-analysis, relative to HC, SAD patients showed larger GMVs in the left precuneus, right middle occipital gyrus (MOG) and supplementary motor area (SMA), as well as smaller GMV in the left putamen. In the subgroup analyses, compared with controls, adult patients (age ≥ 18 years) with SAD exhibited larger GMVs in the left precuneus, right superior frontal gyrus (SFG), angular gyrus, middle temporal gyrus (MTG), MOG and SMA, as well as a smaller GMV in the left thalamus; SAD patients without comorbid depressive disorder exhibited larger GMVs in the left superior parietal gyrus and precuneus, right inferior temporal gyrus, fusiform gyrus, MTG and superior temporal gyrus (STG), as well as a smaller GMV in the bilateral thalami; and currently drug-free patients with SAD exhibited a smaller GMV in the left thalamus compared with HC while no larger GMVs were found. For SAD patients with different clinical features, our study revealed directionally consistent larger cortical GMVs and smaller subcortical GMVs, including locationally consistent larger precuneus and thalamic deficits in the left brain. Age, comorbid depressive disorder and concomitant medication use of the patients might be potential confounders of SAD at the neuroanatomical level.

Regional homogeneity in depression:a meta-analysis of resting-state functional-MRI studies / 中华行为医学与脑科学杂志

Objective To effectively combine the results of resting state regional homogeneity(ReHo) fMRI studies in depression.Methods Literatures between 2003-2016 on fMRI of depression in PubMed,Web of Knowledge,EBSCO host medline,CNKI,CQVIP and Wanfang Med Online were taken as research objects.Screening the relevant data according to the included and excluded standard,then,software of AES-SDM was employed to do Meta analysis,in addition,the age,gender,duration of disease,the year of education and treatment were also analyzed.Results 23 articles met the standard,including 1 036 cases,of which 507 for the depression group,529 for the control group.Meta analysis showed the significant ReHo abnormalities of Default Mode Network(DMN) which centers on left precuneus,left superior frontal gyrus and right cingulate gyrus,in addition,left lenticular nucleus,left postcentral gyrus,left cerebellum and left fusiform gyrus had significant ReHo differences.In the regression analysis,gender,age,duration of disease,years of education,disease severity were all affected factors.The difference of cingulate gyrus was the most stable,and the duration of the disease significantly affected cingulate gyrus (SDM =2.777).Conclusion The abnormalities of DMN which centers on left precuneus,left,medial superior frontal gyrus and right cingulate gyrus are the most consistent in depression,the DMN is closely related to depression.