Absence of change in the gray matter volume of patients with ulcerative colitis in remission: a voxel based morphometry study

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Abstract

Background

Recent neuroimaging studies have investigated the brain involvement in patients with Crohn's disease (CD) and Ulcerative Colitis (UC). Functional studies found abnormalities in cognitive and emotional functions in CD and UC, while a voxel based morphometry (VBM) study found morphological changes in CD. We conducted a VBM study to compare the gray matter (GM) volume of UC patients and controls.

Methods

Eighteen UC patients in remission and eighteen healthy controls underwent structural MRI. VBM is a fully automated technique allowing identification of regional differences in the amount of GM, which enables an objective analysis of the whole brain. VBM was used for comparisons between patients and controls.

Results

UC patients were all in remission and had a mild clinical course. There were no differences between patients and controls in GM volume.

Conclusion

The brain morphology of patients with UC in remission is similar to controls. The lack of GM abnormalities in UC patients might reflect the mild clinical course of the inflammatory bowel disorder. Further research involving patients with different degrees of disease severity or during flares could shed more light on potential brain structural changes in UC.

Related collections

Most cited references 14

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Psycho-neuro-endocrine-immune modulation through the brain-gut axis likely has a key role in the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The brain-gut axis involves interactions among the neural components, including (1) the autonomic nervous system, (2) the central nervous system, (3) the stress system (hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis), (4) the (gastrointestinal) corticotropin-releasing factor system, and (5) the intestinal response (including the intestinal barrier, the luminal microbiota, and the intestinal immune response). Animal models suggest that the cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway through an anti-tumor necrosis factor effect of the efferent vagus nerve could be a therapeutic target in IBD through a pharmacologic, nutritional, or neurostimulation approach. In addition, the psychophysiological vulnerability of patients with IBD, secondary to the potential presence of any mood disorders, distress, increased perceived stress, or maladaptive coping strategies, underscores the psychological needs of patients with IBD. Clinicians need to address these issues with patients because there is emerging evidence that stress or other negative psychological attributes may have an effect on the disease course. Future research may include exploration of markers of brain-gut interactions, including serum/salivary cortisol (as a marker of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis), heart rate variability (as a marker of the sympathovagal balance), or brain imaging studies. The widespread use and potential impact of complementary and alternative medicine and the positive response to placebo (in clinical trials) is further evidence that exploring other psycho-interventions may be important therapeutic adjuncts to the conventional therapeutic approach in IBD. Copyright © 2013 AGA Institute. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Author and article information

Contributors

Alessandro Agostini: alessandro.furey@tiscali.it

Massimo Campieri: massimo.campieri@unibo.it

Angela Bertani: angelabertani@hotmail.com

Antonella Scarcelli: antonallascarcel@hotmail.com

Daniela Ballotta: daniela.ballotta@unimore.it

Carlo Calabrese: carlo.calabrese2@unibo.it

Fernando Rizzello: fernando.rizzello@unibo.it

Paolo Gionchetti: paolo.gionchetti@unibo.it

Paolo Nichelli: nichelli@unimore.it

Francesca Benuzzi: benuzzi@unimore.it

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Biopsychosoc Med

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Biopsychosoc Med

Title: Biopsychosocial Medicine

Publisher: BioMed Central (London )

ISSN (Electronic): 1751-0759

Publication date (Electronic): 7 January 2015

Publication date PMC-release: 7 January 2015

Publication date Collection: 2015

Volume: 9

Issue: 1

Electronic Location Identifier: 1

Affiliations

[ ]Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy

[ ]Department of Clinical Medicine, IBD Unit, S. Orsola-Malpighi Hospital, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy

[ ]Department of Biomedical, Metabolic Sciences, and Neurosciences, Nuovo Ospedale Civile S. Agostino-Estense, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy

[ ]Department of Gastroenterology, IBD Unit, Policlinico Hospital, Modena, Italy

Article

Publisher ID: 28

DOI: 10.1186/s13030-014-0028-7

PMC ID: 4302580

PubMed ID: 25614759

SO-VID: 56bb2e18-40da-4cf6-afd0-6dc1a5e30f1b

License:

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver ( http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.