RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Prior imaging studies have shown structural, functional and biochemical impairments in patients with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), particularly in the right hemisphere. In this study we investigated, for the first time to the best of our knowledge, the white-matter microstructure organization in GAD. METHOD: A total of 12 patients with DSM-IV GAD and 15 matched healthy controls underwent a magnetic resonance imaging session of diffusion weighted imaging, exploring white-matter water molecules by the means of apparent diffusion coefficients (ADCs). Regions of interests were placed in the frontal, parietal, temporal and occipital lobes and in the splenium and genu of the corpus callosum, bilaterally. RESULTS: ADC measures were significantly greater in patients with GAD in the right splenium and right parietal cortex compared with healthy controls (p⩽0.002). No significant correlations between ADCs and age or clinical variables were found. CONCLUSIONS: We provide evidence that GAD is associated with disrupted white-matter coherence of posterior right hemisphere regions, which may partly sustain the impaired cognitive regulation of anxiety. Future diffusion imaging investigations are expected to better elucidate the communication between the parietal cortex and other right hemisphere regions in sustaining the cognitive processing of social and emotional stimuli in patients with GAD.
Assuntos
Transtornos de Ansiedade/patologia , Corpo Caloso/patologia , Leucoencefalopatias/patologia , Lobo Parietal/patologia , Adulto , Imagem de Difusão por Ressonância Magnética , Feminino , Lateralidade Funcional/fisiologia , Humanos , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-IdadeAssuntos
Transtorno Bipolar/genética , Transtorno Bipolar/patologia , Hipocampo , Receptores de Ácido Caínico/genética , Adulto , Feminino , Genótipo , Hipocampo/irrigação sanguínea , Hipocampo/patologia , Hipocampo/fisiopatologia , Humanos , Processamento de Imagem Assistida por Computador/métodos , Imageamento por Ressonância Magnética/métodos , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Oxigênio/metabolismo , Deleção de Sequência , População Branca , Adulto JovemAssuntos
Desenvolvimento Humano , Comportamento Espacial , Adolescente , Criança , Feminino , Humanos , MasculinoRESUMO
Psychiatric disorders in a sample of spouses of probands with recurrent Primary Affective Disorders (PAD) and in their first degree relatives were evaluated and compared with those in the spouse of control subjects without psychiatric illnesses. No differences were found in the risk for PAD, but spouses of PAD patients and their respective first degree relatives manifested a greater incidence of affective spectrum disorders.
Assuntos
Transtornos do Humor/genética , Família , Feminino , Humanos , Masculino , Risco , SociologiaRESUMO
Seventy-two spouses of subjects with recurrent primary affective disorders (PAD), were investigated for the presence of psychiatric disorders in their lives and in those of their first degree relatives, and compared with 71 spouses of non-psychiatrically ill control subjects. No difference was found in the risk for PAD; on the other hand spouses of affective patients manifested a greater occurrence of psychiatric disorders belonging to the affective spectrum, as did their respective first-degree relatives.
