Johannes Jungilligens1, Jörg Wellmer2, Annika Kowoll3, Uwe Schlegel4, Nikolai Axmacher5, Stoyan Popkirov4. 1. Department of Neurology, University Hospital Knappschaftskrankenhaus Bochum, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany; Department of Neuropsychology, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany. Electronic address: johannes.jungilligens@rub.de. 2. Ruhr-Epileptology, Department of Neurology, University Hospital Knappschaftskrankenhaus Bochum, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany. 3. Institute for Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, Neuroradiology and Nuclear Medicine, University Hospital Knappschaftskrankenhaus Bochum, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany. 4. Department of Neurology, University Hospital Knappschaftskrankenhaus Bochum, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany. 5. Department of Neuropsychology, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany.
Abstract
PURPOSE: To identify variations in white matter tract integrity related to behavioural control in response to emotional stimuli in patients with dissociative seizures (DS) and healthy controls (HC), and examine associations with illness characteristics and psychological trauma history. METHODS: Twenty DS patients and 20 HC completed an emotional go/no-go task and questionnaires, and then underwent diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). RESULTS: Patients had higher false alarm rates in response to negative emotional stimuli than HC. Task performance was correlated with self-reported difficulties in emotional awareness and regulation in everyday life. White matter analysis using tract-based spatial statistics revealed no between-group differences. In patients, fractional anisotropy (FA) in the right uncinate fasciculus, right and left fornix/stria terminalis, and corpus callosum were correlated with task performance. Similar results were found for radial diffusivity (RD), but not mean (MD) or axial diffusivity (AD). In HC, task performance was associated with AD and RD of fewer and smaller clusters in the corpus callosum and right fornix/stria terminalis, and none for FA or MD. Probabilistic tractography of thus identified tracts revealed that mean FA values were correlated with illness parameters (right fornix/stria terminalis with age at onset; posterior corpus callosum with seizure frequency), and psychological trauma history (traumatic experiences during adolescence with anterior corpus callosum). CONCLUSIONS: Patients with DS show impaired behavioural control in response to emotional stimuli. Microstructural variations in task-related neurocircuitry show associations with illness parameters and psychological trauma history. Future studies using psychiatric controls should examine the specificity of these findings.
PURPOSE: To identify variations in white matter tract integrity related to behavioural control in response to emotional stimuli in patients with dissociative seizures (DS) and healthy controls (HC), and examine associations with illness characteristics and psychological trauma history. METHODS: Twenty DS patients and 20 HC completed an emotional go/no-go task and questionnaires, and then underwent diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). RESULTS:Patients had higher false alarm rates in response to negative emotional stimuli than HC. Task performance was correlated with self-reported difficulties in emotional awareness and regulation in everyday life. White matter analysis using tract-based spatial statistics revealed no between-group differences. In patients, fractional anisotropy (FA) in the right uncinate fasciculus, right and left fornix/stria terminalis, and corpus callosum were correlated with task performance. Similar results were found for radial diffusivity (RD), but not mean (MD) or axial diffusivity (AD). In HC, task performance was associated with AD and RD of fewer and smaller clusters in the corpus callosum and right fornix/stria terminalis, and none for FA or MD. Probabilistic tractography of thus identified tracts revealed that mean FA values were correlated with illness parameters (right fornix/stria terminalis with age at onset; posterior corpus callosum with seizure frequency), and psychological trauma history (traumatic experiences during adolescence with anterior corpus callosum). CONCLUSIONS:Patients with DS show impaired behavioural control in response to emotional stimuli. Microstructural variations in task-related neurocircuitry show associations with illness parameters and psychological trauma history. Future studies using psychiatric controls should examine the specificity of these findings.
Authors: David L Perez; Timothy R Nicholson; Ali A Asadi-Pooya; Indrit Bègue; Matthew Butler; Alan J Carson; Anthony S David; Quinton Deeley; Ibai Diez; Mark J Edwards; Alberto J Espay; Jeannette M Gelauff; Mark Hallett; Silvina G Horovitz; Johannes Jungilligens; Richard A A Kanaan; Marina A J Tijssen; Kasia Kozlowska; Kathrin LaFaver; W Curt LaFrance; Sarah C Lidstone; Ramesh S Marapin; Carine W Maurer; Mandana Modirrousta; Antje A T S Reinders; Petr Sojka; Jeffrey P Staab; Jon Stone; Jerzy P Szaflarski; Selma Aybek Journal: Neuroimage Clin Date: 2021-03-11 Impact factor: 4.881