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Cerebral microstructural abnormalities in impulsivity: a magnetic resonance study

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Abstract

Studies that investigated neurobiological parameters subtended to impulsivity trait found their relationship with structural and functional brain alterations. No studies investigated the white matter microstructural attributes of impulsivity in a large sample of healthy subjects. In the present study 1007 subjects from Human Connectome Project public dataset were divided in two groups, impulsive and not impulsive, basing on Delay Discounting task score. For both groups brain morphometric and microstructural characteristics were investigated. A t-test (correct for multiple comparisons) was performed for each brain parcel and impulsivity measure. Magnetic resonance diffusion images were pre-processed and selected to perform a voxelwise analysis on the fractional anisotropy (FA) maps between impulsive and not impulsive groups. Group analysis showed significant differences in morphometric brain data mainly for temporal and frontal lobes. The impulsive group presented higher FA values in four regions: bilateral medial lemniscus and midbrain reticular formation, right superior longitudinal fasciculus, left forceps major, right corticospinal tract. Not impulsive group showed higher FA values in two significant regions: right and left anterior thalamus radiation. Concluding, macroscopic and microstructural brain alterations were assessed, identifying new neuroanatomical substrates for multidimensional impulsivity construct in a large sample of healthy subjects.

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Acknowledgments

These data were provided by the Human Connectome Project, WU-Minn Consortium (Principal Investigators: David Van Essen and KamilUgurbil; 1U54MH091657) funded by the 16 NIH Institutes and Centers that support the NIH Blueprint for Neuroscience Research; and by the McDonnell Center for Systems Neuroscience at Washington University in St. Louis. The authors are deeply appreciative to the Human Connectome Project for open access to its data.

This work was supported by RC projects of the Italian MOH. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

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  1. V. Alfano and Mariachiara Longarzo contributed equally to this work.

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  1. IRCCS SDN, Via Emanuele Gianturco, 113, Naples, Italy

    Vincenzo Alfano, Mariachiara Longarzo, Marco Aiello, Andrea Soricelli & Carlo Cavaliere

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  1. Vincenzo Alfano
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Alfano, V., Longarzo, M., Aiello, M. et al. Cerebral microstructural abnormalities in impulsivity: a magnetic resonance study. Brain Imaging and Behavior 15, 346–354 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11682-020-00261-2

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