Tian Zilei, Ma Ziyang, Dou Beihong, Huang Xiaopeng, Li Guangsen, Chang Degui, Yin Tao, Zhang Peihai
Acupuncture and Tuina School, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, 611137, Sichuan, China.
Acupuncture and Brain Science Research Center, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, 611137, China.
Sci Rep. 2025 Aug 6;15(1):28661. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-14706-5.
Psychogenic erectile dysfunction (pED) is a prevalent male sexual dysfunction lacking organic etiology. Endeavors have been made in previous studies to disclose the brain pathological mechanisms of pED. However, the cortical morphological characteristics in pED patients remained largely unknown. This study enrolled 50 pED patients and 50 healthy controls (HC). The surface-based morphometry (SBM) analysis was conducted, and the between-group comparisons of the four cortical morphological parameters, including the cortical thickness, sulcus depth, gyrification index, and fractal dimension, were performed to investigate the cortical morphological alterations in pED patients, followed by correlation analysis between clinical data and SBM metrics. Furthermore, a classifier was developed based on a support vector classification algorithm and cortical morphological features to explore the feasibility of discriminating between pED patients and HC at an individual level. The results demonstrated that pED patients manifested consistent alteration in cortical morphology cross metrics in the orbitofrontal cortex, anterior and middle cingulate cortex, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and precentral gyrus, which were significantly correlated with the clinical symptoms in pED patients. Additionally, the classifier built based on 11 cortical morphological features achieved an accuracy of 82% in discriminating pED patients from HC. The current study provided new evidence of cortical morphological aberrations in pED patients, which deepened our understanding of the central pathology pattern of pED and was expected to facilitate the objective diagnosis of pED and the development of neuromodulation techniques targeting the alterations above.
心因性勃起功能障碍(pED)是一种常见的男性性功能障碍,缺乏器质性病因。以往的研究致力于揭示pED的大脑病理机制。然而,pED患者的皮质形态特征在很大程度上仍不清楚。本研究纳入了50例pED患者和50例健康对照(HC)。进行基于表面的形态测量(SBM)分析,并对包括皮质厚度、沟深度、脑回化指数和分形维数在内的四个皮质形态参数进行组间比较,以研究pED患者的皮质形态改变,随后进行临床数据与SBM指标之间的相关性分析。此外,基于支持向量分类算法和皮质形态特征开发了一种分类器,以探索在个体水平上区分pED患者和HC的可行性。结果表明,pED患者在眶额皮质、前扣带回和中扣带回皮质、背外侧前额叶皮质和中央前回的皮质形态交叉指标上表现出一致的改变,这些改变与pED患者的临床症状显著相关。此外,基于11个皮质形态特征构建的分类器在区分pED患者和HC方面的准确率达到了82%。本研究为pED患者的皮质形态异常提供了新的证据,加深了我们对pED中枢病理模式的理解,有望促进pED的客观诊断以及针对上述改变的神经调节技术的发展。