Department of Psychology, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, United States.
Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, CA, United States.
Psychiatry Res Neuroimaging. 2022 Aug;324:111491. doi: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2022.111491. Epub 2022 May 10.
Irritability is a prevalent, impairing transdiagnostic symptom, especially during adolescence, yet little is known about irritability's neural mechanisms. A few studies examined the integrity of white matter tracts that facilitate neural communication in irritability, but only with extreme, disorder-related symptom presentations. In this preliminary study, we used a group connectometry approach to identify white matter tracts correlated with transdiagnostic irritability in a community/clinic-based sample of 35 adolescents (mean age = 14 years, SD = 2.0). We found positive and negative associations with irritability in local white matter tract bundles including sections of the longitudinal fasciculus; frontoparietal, parolfactory, and parahippocampal cingulum; corticostriatal and thalamocortical radiations; and vertical occipital fasciculus. Our findings support functional neuroimaging studies that implicate widespread neural pathways, particularly emotion and reward networks, in irritability. Our findings of positive and negative associations reveal a complex picture of what is "good" white matter connectivity. By characterizing irritability's neural underpinnings, targeted interventions may be developed.
易激惹是一种普遍存在且具有损害性的跨诊断症状，尤其在青少年时期更为常见，但人们对易激惹的神经机制知之甚少。有一些研究检查了促进神经通讯的白质束的完整性，这些白质束与易激惹有关，但仅涉及与极端、与疾病相关的症状表现。在这项初步研究中，我们使用群组连接组学方法，在一个基于社区/诊所的 35 名青少年（平均年龄为 14 岁，标准差为 2.0）样本中，确定了与跨诊断易激惹相关的白质束。我们发现与易激惹相关的局部白质束中存在正相关和负相关，包括纵束的各个部分；额顶、嗅周和海马旁扣带束；皮质纹状体和丘脑皮质辐射；以及垂直枕叶束。我们的发现支持功能神经影像学研究，这些研究表明，广泛的神经通路，特别是情绪和奖励网络，与易激惹有关。我们发现的正相关和负相关揭示了“良好”白质连接的复杂情况。通过描述易激惹的神经基础，可以开发出有针对性的干预措施。
