MORPHOSTRUCTURAL CEREBRAL FEATURES OF ALEXITHYMIA

这个子项目是许多研究子项目中的一个 由NIH/NCRR资助的中心赠款提供的资源。子项目和 研究者（PI）可能从另一个NIH来源获得了主要资金， 因此可以在其他CRISP条目中表示。所列机构为 研究中心，而研究中心不一定是研究者所在的机构。 背景资料： 述情障碍的特征是：1）难以识别和描述主观感受; 2）难以区分情绪唤起的感觉和身体感觉; 3）想象能力下降，表现为缺乏幻想;（4）外向型思维方式，倾向于关注外部事件而不是内心经历，描述事实和行为而不涉及情感;和5）社会一致性（Nemiah JC等人，1976; Taylor GJ等人，1991年）。这些临床特征最初由Sifneos（1973）在心身障碍患者中描述，迄今为止被认为与更广泛的身体和精神障碍有关（Taylor GJ等人，1997），除了在一般人群中被检测为人格特征（Salminen JK等人，1999; Kokkonen P等人，2001年）。对健康受试者的功能研究表明，在情绪刺激加工期间，述情障碍与前扣带皮层、额叶皮层和内侧额叶皮层的异常活动之间存在关联，表明述情障碍患者的额叶皮层区域功能障碍（Kano F等人，2003; Lane RD等人，1998; Berthoz S等人，2002年）。在最近的VBM研究中，已经发现述情障碍与前扣带皮层、颞中回、前额叶、眶额皮层和上级颞沟中较小的灰质（GM）体积有关（Borsci等人，提交） 目的： 利用先进的神经影像学工具研究述情障碍相关的脑形态结构特征。 研究方法： 我们纳入了58名受试者（29名有述情障碍，29名无述情障碍）。采用20项多伦多述情障碍量表（TAS-20）评估述情障碍。受试者是在布雷西亚市布雷西亚医院神经放射科接受脑MR扫描的连续正常志愿者。所有受试者均接受高分辨率3D磁共振（MR）成像和多维评估，包括心理和行为量表，以及神经和神经心理学评估。在评价时，受试者未被诊断为任何神经系统或精神疾病。皮质模式匹配（CPM）将用于更好地研究述情障碍受试者和无述情障碍受试者之间的皮质灰质（GM）差异。

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Background: Alexithymia is a condition characterized by: 1) difficulty to identify and describe subjective feelings; 2) difficulty to distinguish between feelings and bodily sensations of emotional arousal; 3) reduced imaginative capacities, as evidenced by a paucity of fantasies; 4) an externally oriented thinking style, consisting in a tendency to focus on external events rather than inner experiences and to describe facts and actions without affective involvement; and 5) social conformity (Nemiah JC et al., 1976; Taylor GJ et al., 1991). These clinical features, originally described by Sifneos (1973) in patients with psychosomatic disorders, are to date considered to be related to a broader range of physical and psychiatric disorders (Taylor GJ et al., 1997), besides being detected in the general population as personality features (Salminen JK et al., 1999; Kokkonen P et al., 2001). Functional studies on healthy subjects showed an association between alexithymia and abnormal activity of anterior cingulate cortex, insula and medial-frontal cortex during emotional stimuli elaboration, indicating a dysfunction of frontal cortical regions in people with alexithymia (Kano F et al., 2003; Lane RD et al., 1998; Berthoz S et al., 2002). Alexithymia has been found related to smaller gray matter (GM) volume in the anterior cingulate cortex, middle temporal gyrus, anterior insula, orbitofrontal cortex and superior temporal sulcus in a recent VBM study (Borsci et al., submitted) Aim: To investigate morphostructural cerebral features associated to alexithymia using advanced neuroimaging tools. Methods: We included in the study 58 subjects (29 with and 29 without alexithymia). Alexithymia was assessed with the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20). Subjects were consecutive normal volunteers picked among those undergoing brain MR scan at the Neuroradiology Unit of the "Citt¿ di Brescia" Hospital, Brescia. All subjects had high resolution 3D magnetic resonance (MR) imaging and multidimensional assessment included psychological and behavioural scales, as well as neurological and neuropsychological evaluations. Subjects were free of any diagnosis of neurological or psychiatric disorders at the time of the evaluations. Cortical pattern matching (CPM) will be used to better investigate cortical gray matter (GM) differences between subjects with alexithymia and subjects without it.