Grey matter abnormalities in trichotillomania: morphometric magnetic resonance imaging study.
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.
Chamberlain
Samuel R
SR
Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 2QQ, UK. srchamb@gmail.com
Menzies
Lara A
LA
Fineberg
Naomi A
NA
Del Campo
Natalia
N
Suckling
John
J
Craig
Kevin
K
Müller
Ulrich
U
Robbins
Trevor W
TW
Bullmore
Edward T
ET
Sahakian
Barbara J
BJ