Correlating anterior insula gray matter volume changes in young people with clinical and neurocognitive outcomes: an MRI study

BMC Psychiatry

Research Article

Maxwell R Bennett¹  Daniel F Hermens¹  Jim Lagopoulos¹  Sharon L Naismith¹  Ian B Hickie¹  Sean N Hatton² 

[1] Clinical Research Unit, Brain & Mind Research Institute, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia;Clinical Research Unit, Brain & Mind Research Institute, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia;Postal Address: Brain and Mind Research Institute, University of Sydney, 100 Mallet Street, 2050, Sydney, NSW, Australia;

关键词: Insula;    Depression;    Anxiety;    Bipolar;    Psychosis;    MRI;    Symptoms;    Executive function;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-244X-12-45

 received in 2012-03-14, accepted in 2012-05-20,  发布年份 2012

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundThe anterior insula cortex is considered to be both the structural and functional link between experience, affect, and behaviour. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies have shown changes in anterior insula gray matter volume (GMV) in psychosis, bipolar, depression and anxiety disorders in older patients, but few studies have investigated insula GMV changes in young people. This study examined the relationship between anterior insula GMV, clinical symptom severity and neuropsychological performance in a heterogeneous cohort of young people presenting for mental health care.MethodsParticipants with a primary diagnosis of depression (n = 43), bipolar disorder (n = 38), psychosis (n = 32), anxiety disorder (n = 12) or healthy controls (n = 39) underwent structural MRI scanning, and volumetric segmentation of the bilateral anterior insula cortex was performed using the FreeSurfer application. Statistical analysis examined the linear and quadratic correlations between anterior insula GMV and participants’ performance in a battery of clinical and neuropsychological assessments.ResultsCompared to healthy participants, patients had significantly reduced GMV in the left anterior insula (t = 2.05, p = .042) which correlated with reduced performance on a neuropsychological task of attentional set-shifting (ρ = .32, p = .016). Changes in right anterior insula GMV was correlated with increased symptom severity (r = .29, p = .006) and more positive symptoms (r = .32, p = .002).ConclusionsBy using the novel approach of examining a heterogeneous cohort of young depression, anxiety, bipolar and psychosis patients together, this study has demonstrated that insula GMV changes are associated with neurocognitive deficits and clinical symptoms in such young patients.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Hatton et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2012