title: Grey matter abnormalities in trichotillomania: morphometric magnetic resonance imaging study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Trichotillomania (repetitive hair-pulling) is an Axis I psychiatric disorder whose neurobiological basis is incompletely understood. Whole-brain trichotillomania neuroimaging studies are lacking.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To investigate grey and white matter abnormalities over the whole brain in patients with trichotillomania.
  
  
  METHODS
  Eighteen patients with DSM-IV trichotillomania and 19 healthy controls undertook structural magnetic resonance imaging after providing written informed consent. Differences in grey and white matter were investigated using computational morphometry.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patients with trichotillomania showed increased grey matter densities in the left striatum, left amygdalo-hippocampal formation, and multiple (including cingulate, supplementary motor, and frontal) cortical regions bilaterally.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Trichotillomania was associated with structural grey matter changes in neural circuitry implicated in habit learning, cognition and affect regulation. These findings inform animal models of the disorder and highlight key regions of interest for future translational research.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 2QQ, UK. srchamb@gmail.com
authors.forename: Samuel R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Chamberlain
authors.forename: Lara A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Menzies
authors.forename: Naomi A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Fineberg
authors.forename: Natalia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Del Campo
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Suckling
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Craig
authors.forename: Ulrich
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Müller
authors.forename: Trevor W
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Robbins
authors.forename: Edward T
authors.initials: ET
authors.lastname: Bullmore
authors.forename: Barbara J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Sahakian