Agate Logina

• In this study, we examined the regional grey matter density in 35 spider phobic patients and 33 age, gender and education matched healthy controls. We used a method called Voxel-Based Morphometry, which allowed us to conduct a voxel- by-voxel analysis of the entire brain. We also tried to determine if there was any relationship between the severity of fear (expressed in BAT and SPQ score) and grey matter density. Based on previous findings, we expected to find structural changes in the following brain regions: - prefrontal cortex; -In this study, we examined the regional grey matter density in 35 spider phobic patients and 33 age, gender and education matched healthy controls. We used a method called Voxel-Based Morphometry, which allowed us to conduct a voxel- by-voxel analysis of the entire brain. We also tried to determine if there was any relationship between the severity of fear (expressed in BAT and SPQ score) and grey matter density. Based on previous findings, we expected to find structural changes in the following brain regions: - prefrontal cortex; - orbitofrontal cortex; - anterior cingulate cortex; - insula; - visual and associative cortices. Between-group comparison of spider phobic patients and healthy controls yielded no significant results. Additionally, and as expected, we did not find a between- group difference in TIV. Surprisingly, however, we found several brain regions whose GMD was significantly correlated with severity of spider phobia. The score that correlated with several regions GMD and yielded the largest cluster was the SPQ. SPQ was positively correlated with dorsal anterior cingulate, right insula and left inferior parietal lobule. Final distance in centimetres was correlated with left superior frontal gyrus and right paracentral lobule densities. All correlations were observed at a cluster level and no significant results at peak level were found. Interestingly, out of all BAT fear values, only BAT when the spider was taken away had a positive correlation with GMD (vermis). There were no indications of reduced GMD in spider phobic patients. Overall, our regions of significance were in line of those of other structural and functional neuroimaging studies in the field of specific phobia. As expected, we found GMD changes in the prefrontal cortex, ACC, insula and the associative 60 cortices. The functions of these regions such as processing of disgust, attention, autonomous responses, consolidation of memory and regulation of affect support the possible involvement of these structures in SP. We did, however, also yield some unexpected results (vermis, right paracentral lobule). Interestingly and in contrast to other studies, our results were only limited to the phobic group itself- we found no regions of significance in the SP-HC between-group analysis. In the future, more VBM studies with larger size of spider phobic subjects should be conducted, further investigating both the between-group differences and the correlation between spider phobia severity and GMD. Additionally, studies should investigate the relationship between structural changes and activation patterns observed in fMRI, find out whether brain changes precede the clinical symptoms or vice versa and see, if structural changes normalize in response to CBT the same way functional changes do.…
• In dieser Studie wurde mittels auf MRT-Datensätzen basierender VBM der Frage nachgegangen, ob Patienten mit einer Spinnenphobie Veränderungen der grauen oder weißen Substanz des Gehirns aufweisen. Bei VBM werden regionale Volumenveränderungen der grauen und der weißen Substanz auf dem Boden struktureller MRT-Bilder bestimmt. Wir haben veränderungen in folgenden Regionen erwartet: - präfrontalem Kortex - orbitofrontalem Kortex - anteriorem cingulärem Kortex - Inselkortex - Sehrinde. Der Spinnenphobie-Fragebogen (SPQ) ergab eine positiveIn dieser Studie wurde mittels auf MRT-Datensätzen basierender VBM der Frage nachgegangen, ob Patienten mit einer Spinnenphobie Veränderungen der grauen oder weißen Substanz des Gehirns aufweisen. Bei VBM werden regionale Volumenveränderungen der grauen und der weißen Substanz auf dem Boden struktureller MRT-Bilder bestimmt. Wir haben veränderungen in folgenden Regionen erwartet: - präfrontalem Kortex - orbitofrontalem Kortex - anteriorem cingulärem Kortex - Inselkortex - Sehrinde. Der Spinnenphobie-Fragebogen (SPQ) ergab eine positive Korrelation mit dorsalem cingulärem Kortex, rechtem Inselkortex und dem linkem Lobulus parietalis inferior. Auch Vermis, rechter Lobulus paracentralis und der linke Gyrus frontalis superior Dichte zeigte eine positive Korrelation mit Schwergrad der Spinnenphobie. Zusammenfassend sind unsere Ergebnisse übereinstimmend mit den Ergebnissen von anderen Studien. Wie erwartet, haben wir Veränderungen im präfrontalen Kortex, anteriorem cingulärem Kortex und Inselkortex gefunden. Diese Regionen sind für Ekel, Aufmerksamkeit, autonome Reaktionen und Gedächtnis verantwortlich, alle diese Funktionen spielen eine Rolle in spezifischen Phobien. In Zukunft, mehr und größeren VBM-Studien sind notwendig, um die Ergebnisse von unserer Studie zu überprüfen.…