Life Science Research Center, School of Life Science and Technology, Xidian University, Xi'an 710071, China; Engineering Research Center of Molecular and Neuro Imaging Ministry of Education, School of Life Science and Technology, Xidian University, Xi'an 710071, China.
Life Science Research Center, School of Life Science and Technology, Xidian University, Xi'an 710071, China.
J Affect Disord. 2018 Mar 15;229:239-246. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2017.12.075. Epub 2018 Jan 3.
Functional brain abnormalities have been noted in premenstrual syndrome (PMS). However, the brain structural alterations related to PMS remain unclear. This study aimed to identify possible abnormalities in gray matter (GM) volumes and structural covariance patterns among PMS patients.
Structural magnetic resonance imaging data were obtained from 20 PMS patients and 20 healthy controls. Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) analysis was applied to examine GM volumes changes between the two groups. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to investigate the most reliable biomarker for distinguishing PMS patients from health controls based on the intergroup differences. Correlation analysis was then performed to assess relationships between the daily rating of severity of problems (DRSP) and abnormal brain regions. Finally, the regions identified from VBM analysis were served as seeds to characterize the whole-brain structural covariance patterns.
Compared with healthy controls, PMS patients showed increased GM volumes in the precuneus/posterior cingulate cortex (precuneus/PCC) and thalamus, and decreased GM volumes in the insula. The precuneus/PCC exhibited the highest classification power by ROC analysis and positively correlated with the DRSP. Moreover, different patterns of structural covariance in the two groups were mainly located in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, angular gyrus and hippocampus.
This study is limited by a small sample and narrow age range of participants.
Our findings may provide preliminary evidence for brain morphology alterations in PMS patients and contribute to a better understanding of the pathophysiology of PMS.
经前期综合征（PMS）患者存在功能性脑异常。然而，与 PMS 相关的脑结构改变仍不清楚。本研究旨在确定 PMS 患者的灰质（GM）体积和结构协变模式是否存在异常。
从 20 名 PMS 患者和 20 名健康对照者中获取结构磁共振成像数据。采用基于体素的形态学（VBM）分析比较两组间 GM 体积变化。基于组间差异，采用受试者工作特征（ROC）曲线寻找鉴别 PMS 患者与健康对照者的最可靠生物标志物。然后进行相关性分析，以评估每日严重程度评分（DRSP）与异常脑区之间的关系。最后，将 VBM 分析中确定的区域作为种子，以描述全脑结构协变模式。
与健康对照组相比，PMS 患者的后扣带回/楔前叶（postcuneus/PCC）和丘脑 GM 体积增加，岛叶 GM 体积减少。ROC 分析表明，PCC 具有最高的分类能力，与 DRSP 呈正相关。此外，两组间结构协变的不同模式主要位于背外侧前额叶皮层、前扣带回、角回和海马。
本研究受到样本量小和参与者年龄范围窄的限制。
我们的研究结果可能为 PMS 患者的脑形态改变提供初步证据，并有助于更好地理解 PMS 的病理生理学。
