White matter (WM) involvement in chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) was assessed using voxel-based regressions of brain MRI against CFS severity scores and CFS duration in 25 subjects with CFS and 25 normal controls (NCs).<\/p>\n
As well as voxel-based morphometry, a novel voxel-based quantitative analysis of T1- and T2-weighted spin-echo (T1w and T2w) MRI signal level was performed.<\/p>\n
Severity scores included the Bell CFS disability scale and scores based on the 10\u00a0most common CFS symptoms.<\/p>\n
Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) depression and anxiety scores were included as nuisance covariates.<\/p>\n
By relaxing the threshold for cluster formation, we showed that the T1w signal is\u00a0elevated with increasing CFS severity in the ventrolateral thalamus, internal capsule and prefrontal WM.<\/p>\n
Earlier reports of WM volume losses and neuroinflammation in the midbrain, together with the upregulated prefrontal myelination suggested here, are consistent with the midbrain changes being associated with impaired nerve conduction which stimulates a plastic response on the cortical side of the\u00a0thalamic relay in the same circuits.<\/p>\n
The T2w signal versus CFS duration and comparison of T2w signal in the CFS group with the NC group revealed changes in the right middle temporal lobe WM, where impaired communication can affect cognitive function.<\/p>\n
Adjustment for depression markedly strengthened cluster statistics and increased\u00a0cluster size in both T1w severity regressions, but adjustment for anxiety less so.<\/p>\n
Thus, depression and anxiety are statistical confounders here, meaning that they\u00a0contribute variance to the T1w signal in prefrontal WM but this does not correlate\u00a0 with the co-located variance from CFS severity.<\/p>\n
MRI regressions with depression itself only detected associations with WM volume, also located in prefrontal WM.<\/p>\n
We propose that impaired reciprocal brain\u2013body and brain\u2013brain communication through the midbrain provokes peripheral and central responses which contribute to CFS symptoms.<\/p>\n
Although anxiety, depression and CFS may share biological features, the present\u00a0evidence indicates that CFS is a distinct disorder.<\/p>\n
Evidence in chronic fatigue syndrome for severity-dependent upregulation of<\/a>\u00a0prefrontal myelination that is independent of anxiety and depression,<\/a> by Leighton R. Barnden, Benjamin Crouch, Richard Kwiatek, Richard Burnet\u00a0and Peter Del Fante in NMR in Biomedicine Vol 28 Issue 3, pages 404\u2013413, March 2015\u00a0[Article first published online: 22 FEB 2015]<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Research article: White matter (WM) involvement in chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) was assessed using voxel-based regressions of brain MRI against CFS severity scores and CFS duration in 25 subjects with CFS and 25 normal controls (NCs). As well as voxel-based … Continue reading