Larger volume and different functional connectivity of the amygdala in women with premenstrual syndrome.

OBJECTIVES

To assess structural and functional changes of the amygdala due to premenstrual syndrome (PMS) using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

METHODS

Twenty PMS patients and 21 healthy control (HC) subjects underwent a 6-min resting-state fMRI scan during the luteal phase as well as scanning high-resolution T1-weighted images. Subcortical amygdala-related volume and functional connectivity (FC) were estimated between the two groups. Each subject completed a daily record of severity of problems (DRSP) to measure the severity of clinical symptoms.

RESULTS

Greater bilateral amygdalae volumes were found in PMS patients compared with HC subjects, and PMS patients had increased FC between the amygdala and certain regions of the frontal cortex (e.g. medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), right precentral gyrus), the right temporal pole and the insula, as well as decreased FC between the bilateral amygdalae and the right orbitofrontal cortex and right hippocampus. The strength of FC between the right amygdala and right precentral gyrus, left ACC and left mPFC were significantly and positively correlated with DRSP scores in PMS patients.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings may improve our understanding of the neural mechanisms involved in PMS.

KEY POINTS

• Functional and structural MRI used to explore amygdala in PMS patients. • Aberrant amygdala structural and functional connectivity were found in PMS patients. • Amygdala strength FC was positively correlated with individual clinical symptom scores.