title: Abnormal prefrontal cortex resting state functional connectivity and severity of internet gaming disorder.
abstract: Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) among adolescents has become an important public concern and gained more and more attention internationally. Recent studies focused on IGD and revealed brain abnormalities in the IGD group, especially the prefrontal cortex (PFC). However, the role of PFC-striatal circuits in pathology of IGD remains unknown. Twenty-five adolescents with IGD and 21 age- and gender-matched healthy controls were recruited in our study. Voxel-based morphometric (VBM) and functional connectivity analysis were employed to investigate the abnormal structural and resting-state properties of several frontal regions in individuals with online gaming addiction. Relative to healthy comparison subjects, IGD subjects showed significant decreased gray matter volume in PFC regions including the bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and the right supplementary motor area (SMA) after controlling for age and gender effects. We chose these regions as the seeding areas for the resting-state analysis and found that IGD subjects showed decreased functional connectivity between several cortical regions and our seeds, including the insula, and temporal and occipital cortices. Moreover, significant decreased functional connectivity between some important subcortical regions, i.e., dorsal striatum, pallidum, and thalamus, and our seeds were found in the IGD group and some of those changes were associated with the severity of IGD. Our results revealed the involvement of several PFC regions and related PFC-striatal circuits in the process of IGD and suggested IGD may share similar neural mechanisms with substance dependence at the circuit level.
authors: Department of Medical Imaging, the First Affiliated Hospital of Medical College, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China. Jin1115@mail.xjtu.edu.cn.
authors: Chenwang
authors: C
authors: Jin
authors: College of Tourism, Guilin Technology of University, Guilin, Guangxi, China.|School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China.
authors: Ting
authors: T
authors: Zhang
authors: Life Sciences Research Center, School of Life Sciences and Technology, Xidian University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China.
authors: Chenxi
authors: C
authors: Cai
authors: Life Sciences Research Center, School of Life Sciences and Technology, Xidian University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China.
authors: Yanzhi
authors: Y
authors: Bi
authors: Life Sciences Research Center, School of Life Sciences and Technology, Xidian University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China.
authors: Yangding
authors: Y
authors: Li
authors: Information Processing Laboratory, School of Information Engineering, Inner Mongolia University of Science and Technology, Baotou, Inner Mongolia, China.
authors: Dahua
authors: D
authors: Yu
authors: Department of Medical Imaging, the First Affiliated Hospital of Medical College, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China.
authors: Ming
authors: M
authors: Zhang
authors: Life Sciences Research Center, School of Life Sciences and Technology, Xidian University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China. kyuan@xidian.edu.cn.
authors: Kai
authors: K
authors: Yuan
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D016739:Behavior, Addictive / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D066128:Gray Matter / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology; D009929:Organ Size; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012146:Rest; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Functional connectivity; Gray matter volume; Internet gaming disorder; Prefrontal cortex-striatal circuits