Kang Youbin, Kim Aram, Kang Wooyoung, Han Kyu-Man, Ham Byoungjoo
Department of Biomedical Sciences, Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul 02841, Korea.
Department of Psychiatry, Korea University Anam Hospital, Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul 02841, Korea.
Exp Neurobiol. 2022 Oct 31;31(5):343-352. doi: 10.5607/en22030.
Alexithymia is characterized by impairments in the processing of emotions. Although the disruptions in the white matter (WM) integrity in Major depressive disorder (MDD) has frequently been reported, the underlying relationship with alexithymia remains unclear. In the present study, we investigated WM tracts with Tracts Constrained by UnderLying Anatomy approach to discover potential associations between alexithymia and WM integrity to identify the neural basis of impaired emotional self-awareness in MDD. 101 patients with MDD and 99 healthy sex- and age-matched individuals underwent diffusion-weighted imaging. All participants were assessed with the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS). TAS scores were significantly higher in MDD patients than in controls. Patients with MDD exhibited significantly lower FA values in the left inferior longitudinal fasciculus and it also showed negative associations with TAS. These results contribute to the neurobiological evidence on the association between MDD and alexithymia. Additionally, they suggest that reduced white matter integrity in the regions constitutes a principal pathophysiology underlying impaired emotional recognition and description in MDD.
述情障碍的特征是情绪处理能力受损。尽管经常有报道称重度抑郁症（MDD）患者的白质（WM）完整性受到破坏，但其与述情障碍之间的潜在关系仍不清楚。在本研究中，我们采用基于解剖结构的束状分析法研究白质束，以发现述情障碍与白质完整性之间的潜在关联，从而确定MDD患者情绪自我意识受损的神经基础。101例MDD患者和99例年龄及性别匹配的健康个体接受了扩散加权成像检查。所有参与者均使用20项多伦多述情障碍量表（TAS）进行评估。MDD患者的TAS评分显著高于对照组。MDD患者左侧下纵束的FA值显著降低，且与TAS呈负相关。这些结果为MDD与述情障碍之间的关联提供了神经生物学证据。此外，它们表明这些区域白质完整性的降低构成了MDD患者情绪识别和描述受损的主要病理生理学基础。
