Alexithymia in healthy women: a brain morphology study.
BACKGROUND
Alexithymia relates to difficulty recognizing and describing own feelings. Recent literature shows that specific structures process emotions. Aim of this study was to investigate whether alexithymia is associated with a specific cerebral morphology of candidate structures in healthy adults.


METHODS
Fifty-four female volunteers were enrolled in the study and the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) was self-administered. Gray matter (GM) volume was assessed with an optimized voxel-based morphometry (VBM) protocol on high-resolution 3D magnetic resonance images. The following three experiments were carried out: 1) contrast between the 14 volunteers with TAS-20 scores > or = 61 (alexithymic) and the 30 with scores < 51 (non-alexithymic), 2) correlation of TAS-20 scores on the whole sample and 3) contrast between the 14 alexithymic and 14 non-alexithymic matched by age. The significant threshold for VBM comparisons and correlation was set at p<0.005 uncorrected.


RESULTS
The alexithymic group showed smaller GM volume in the anterior cingulate cortex (cluster size: 735 voxel no.; z=3.26; stereotaxic coordinates: -12, 22, 30) and middle temporal gyrus (256; 3.21; -60, 2, -20). Of specific biological relevance, smaller clusters were located in the anterior insula, orbitofrontal cortex and superior temporal sulcus. The opposite comparison was negative. The correlation analysis confirmed the pattern of results mainly in the left hemisphere.


CONCLUSIONS
Our findings suggest that the ability to process emotional aspects of the self correlates with morphology of a specific set of cerebral structures known to be involved in decision making and self awareness and rich in neurons subserving social competence.
Borsci
Genoveffa
G
Laboratory of Epidemiology, Neuroimaging and Telemedicine, IRCCS S. Giovanni di Dio, FBF, Brescia, Italy.
Boccardi
Marina
M
Rossi
Roberta
R
Rossi
Giuseppe
G
Perez
Jorge
J
Bonetti
Matteo
M
Frisoni
Giovanni B
GB
D000328:Adult; D000342:Affective Symptoms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology*; D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000473:pathology; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008875:Middle Aged; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000473:pathology