Abstract
To date, our understanding of the role of abnormal hippocampal volume in imaging studies of insomnia disorders (ID) has remained in apparent contradiction. Given that hippocampal function can be mapped to anatomically defined substructures, the hippocampal substructure volume can be examined in detail at present. In this study, we examined the volumes of hippocampal substructures between IDs and healthy controls (HC) to accurately find hippocampal markers of ID. First, we used the automated hippocampal substructure module in FreeSurfer6.0 to inspect T1-weighted magnetic resonance images between 22 IDs and 30 HC. Then, 12 hippocampal substructures were computed. Volumetric assessment was performed at the hippocampal substructure level between groups. Our study revealed significant reduced volume of the bilateral fimbria in IDs compared with HC (p < 0.05/12, Bonferroni corrected), although there was no difference in the total volume of hippocampus. In addition, the correlation analysis showed that the total hippocampal volume of the left hemisphere was negatively correlated with Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) scores. With regard to hippocampal substructure results, negative correlations were detected between bilateral fimbria volume and clinical variables (i.e., PSQI, SDS, and SAS) in all subjects. Taken together, we revealed marked differences in the volume of the hippocampal substructure between IDs and HC, which provided a more accurate structural imaging marker for the pathological of ID.
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Acknowledgements
This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant Nos. 81871426, 81871430, the program for Young Talents of Science and Technology in Universities of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region NJYT-17-B11, the Natural Science Foundation of Inner Mongolia under Grant No. 2019JQ07, the science and technology planning project of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region 2019GG109, and Chunhui Program of the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China 2018-45.
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Chen, L., Shao, Z., Lei, W. et al. Abnormal hippocampal substructure volume in insomnia disorder. Brain Imaging and Behavior 16, 672–679 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11682-021-00540-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11682-021-00540-6