Jin Chenwang, Zhang Ting, Cai Chenxi, Bi Yanzhi, Li Yangding, Yu Dahua, Zhang Ming, Yuan Kai
Department of Medical Imaging, the First Affiliated Hospital of Medical College, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China.
College of Tourism, Guilin Technology of University, Guilin, Guangxi, China.
Brain Imaging Behav. 2016 Sep;10(3):719-29. doi: 10.1007/s11682-015-9439-8.
Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) among adolescents has become an important public concern and gained more and more attention internationally. Recent studies focused on IGD and revealed brain abnormalities in the IGD group, especially the prefrontal cortex (PFC). However, the role of PFC-striatal circuits in pathology of IGD remains unknown. Twenty-five adolescents with IGD and 21 age- and gender-matched healthy controls were recruited in our study. Voxel-based morphometric (VBM) and functional connectivity analysis were employed to investigate the abnormal structural and resting-state properties of several frontal regions in individuals with online gaming addiction. Relative to healthy comparison subjects, IGD subjects showed significant decreased gray matter volume in PFC regions including the bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and the right supplementary motor area (SMA) after controlling for age and gender effects. We chose these regions as the seeding areas for the resting-state analysis and found that IGD subjects showed decreased functional connectivity between several cortical regions and our seeds, including the insula, and temporal and occipital cortices. Moreover, significant decreased functional connectivity between some important subcortical regions, i.e., dorsal striatum, pallidum, and thalamus, and our seeds were found in the IGD group and some of those changes were associated with the severity of IGD. Our results revealed the involvement of several PFC regions and related PFC-striatal circuits in the process of IGD and suggested IGD may share similar neural mechanisms with substance dependence at the circuit level.
青少年网络成瘾障碍（IGD）已成为一个重要的公共问题，并在国际上受到越来越多的关注。最近的研究聚焦于IGD，并揭示了IGD组存在大脑异常，尤其是前额叶皮质（PFC）。然而，PFC-纹状体回路在IGD病理中的作用仍不清楚。本研究招募了25名患有IGD的青少年以及21名年龄和性别匹配的健康对照。采用基于体素的形态学测量（VBM）和功能连接分析来研究网络游戏成瘾个体几个额叶区域的异常结构和静息状态特性。与健康对照受试者相比，在控制年龄和性别效应后，IGD受试者在包括双侧背外侧前额叶皮质（DLPFC）、眶额皮质（OFC）、前扣带回皮质（ACC）和右侧辅助运动区（SMA）在内的PFC区域灰质体积显著减少。我们选择这些区域作为静息状态分析的种子区域，发现IGD受试者在包括脑岛以及颞叶和枕叶皮质在内的几个皮质区域与我们的种子区域之间的功能连接减少。此外，在IGD组中发现一些重要的皮质下区域，即背侧纹状体、苍白球和丘脑，与我们的种子区域之间的功能连接显著减少，其中一些变化与IGD的严重程度相关。我们的结果揭示了几个PFC区域和相关的PFC-纹状体回路参与了IGD的过程，并表明IGD在回路水平上可能与物质依赖共享相似的神经机制。
