Characteristics of brain functional and structural connectivity in alexithymic students

BACKGROUND: Alexithymia is a multifaceted personality trait and a risk factor for several mental and physical diseases. METHODS: In this study, 21 alexithymic students and 21 nonalexithymic students were recruited from the local university and assigned to the alexithymic group and the control group, respectively. Then, the functional connectivity and the structural connectivity among the brain regions of the students were investigated using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rsfMRI), function connection (FC) analysis, and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). RESULTS: The rsfMRI results revealed 14 brain regions showing significant differences in the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations between the two groups. Comparative analysis of the FC and DTI data in these brain regions between the two groups identified altered levels of functional and structural connectivity between the following four pairs of regions in the alexithymic subjects: the right inferior temporal gyrus and the central posterior gyrus, the left temporal gyrus and the insula, and the bilateral superior frontal gyrus and the anterior cingulate gyrus. CONCLUSION: Compared with single MRI analysis, the multiple MRI analysis identified more precisely the brain regions that could play a key role in the development of alexithymia.