title: Regional brain structural abnormality in meal-related functional dyspepsia patients: a voxel-based morphometry study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Brain dysfunction in functional dyspepsia (FD) has been identified by multiple neuroimaging studies. This study aims to investigate the regional gray matter density (GMD) changes in meal-related FD patients and their correlations with clinical variables, and to explore the possible influence of the emotional state on FD patients's brain structures.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fifty meal-related FD patients and forty healthy subjects (HS) were included and underwent a structural magnetic resonance imaging scan. Voxel-based morphometry analysis was employed to identify the cerebral structure alterations in meal-related FD patients. Regional GMD changes' correlations with the symptoms and their durations, respectively, have been analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Compared to the HS, the meal-related FD patients showed a decreased GMD in the bilateral precentral gyrus, medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC), anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and midcingulate cortex (MCC), left orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and right insula (p<0.05, FWE Corrected, Cluster size>50). After controlling for anxiety and depression, the meal-related FD patients showed a decreased GMD in the bilateral middle frontal gyrus, left MCC, right precentral gyrus and insula (p<0.05, FWE Corrected, Cluster size>50). Before controlling psychological factors, the GMD decreases in the ACC were negatively associated with the symptom scores of the Nepean Dyspepsia Index (NDI) (r = -0.354, p = 0.048, Bonferroni correction) and the duration of FD (r = -0.398, p = 0.02, Bonferroni correction) respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The regional GMD of meal-related FD patients, especially in the regions of the homeostatic afferent processing network significantly differed from that of the HS, and the psychological factors might be one of the essential factors significantly affecting the regional brain structure of meal-related FD patients.
authors.affiliation: The 3rd Teaching Hospital, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, Sichuan, China.
authors.forename: Fang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zeng
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Qin
authors.forename: Yue
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Danhua
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Jixin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Guangyu
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Jinbo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Shengfeng
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Yuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lan
authors.forename: Shuguang
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Qiyong
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Gong
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.forename: Fanrong
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Liang
mesh_terms: D001007:Anxiety / Q000503:physiopathology; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003863:Depression / Q000503:physiopathology; D004415:Dyspepsia / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D055815:Young Adult