감정표현불능증 특성을 보이는 건강한 여성의 화소 기반 형태분석 방법을 통한 회백질 용적 감소의 정량적 분석

Abstract

Objectives : Alexithymia is a condition characterized by impaired ability to identify and describe subjective feelings. In this study, we aimed to investigate whether an alexithymic trait is associated with structural abnormalities in cerebral cortex in healthy adults with voxel-based morphometry (VBM). Method : 71 healthy women were enrolled in this study and the Korean version of 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) was carried out to determine their alexithymic traits. Gray matter (GM) volume was assessed with a VBM protocol from magnetic resonance images acquired on a 1.5 T scanner. We compared GM volumes between subjects with alexithymic traits and non-alexithymic subjects. Results : In the reigion-of-interest (ROI) analysis of both frontal lobes and hippocampal regions, the subjects with alexithymic traits showed a trend of smaller GM volume in the superior frontal gyrus (Talairach coordinate=-12, 23, 53 ; cluster size=47 ; Z-score=3.26), parahippocampalgyrus (24, -34, -9 ; 38 ; 2.95) and middle frontal gyrus (42, 50, 17 ; 22 ; 2.87). Conclusion : Our results suggest that the subjects with alexithymic traits would have a trend of smaller GM volumes in the superior frontal gyrus, parahippocampalgyrus and middle frontal gyrus.