Structural atrophy of the right superior frontal gyrus in adolescents with severe irritability

Abstract

Severe irritability is common in youths with psychiatric disorders and results in significant dysfunction across domains (academic, social, and familial). Prior structural MRI studies in the pediatric population demonstrated that aberrations of cortical thickness (CT) and gray matter volume (GMV) in the fronto‐striatal‐temporal regions which have been associated with irritability. However, the directions of the correlations between structural alteration and irritability in the individual indices were not consistent. Thus, we aim to address this by implementing comprehensive assessments of CT, GMV, and local gyrification index (LGI) simultaneously in youths with severe levels of irritability by voxel‐based morphometry and surface‐based morphometry. One hundred and eight adolescents (46 youths with severe irritability and 62 healthy youths, average age = 14.08 years, standard deviation = 2.36) were scanned with a T1‐weighted MRI sequence. The severity of irritability was measured using the affective reactivity index. In youths with severe irritability, there was decreased CT, GMV, and LGI in the right superior frontal gyrus (SFG) compared to healthy youths, and negative correlations between these indices of the SFG and irritability. Our findings suggest that structural deficits in the SFG, potentially related to its role in inhibitory control, may be critical for the neurobiology of irritability.

Investigating cross-sectional and longitudinal relationships between brain structure and distinct dimensions of externalizing psychopathology in the ABCD Sample

“…Greater emotion dysregulation was negatively associated with subcortical volume in the left caudate, right amygdala, and left and right nucleus accumbens, consistent with prior work [53,54]. These findings of the current study converge with prior work.…”

“…Normative maturation of limbic and striatal structures has been linked to greater emotion regulation and related executive functions (such as inhibitory control [55]). Conversely, lower volume of striatal structures has been linked to increased irritability, both cross-sectionally [54] and longitudinally [53]. Notably, decreased or increased volume of various brain regions has been linked to hypo- or hyperactivity of those regions, respectively [56,57].…”

Neural Correlates of Antisocial Behavior: The Victim’s Perspective

“…This is probably related to prioritized attention and greater self-awareness in social situations that careful individuals tend to exhibit. Additionally, the mFG/SFG activity was negatively correlated with emotional stability and positively with irritable temperaments, which is in line with previous studies showing an association between dmPFC volume and irritability [ 43 ]. We also found that activation in the mFG/SFG was positively correlated with reduced tolerance to frustration in response to deprivation of reward, supporting the role of this region in emotional regulation associated with social interactions.…”

Mediating Effect of Amygdala Activity on Responses to Fear vs. Happiness in Youths with Disruptive Mood and Behavior Disorders

“…The preSMA, a part of the premotor cortex (BA 4 and 6), serves functions of motor control or top-down cognitive control including con ict monitoring, error detection, response selection, and attention control 49 . The previous neuroimaging studies showed the relationship between irritability and functional and structural impairment in the preSMA, suggesting that preSMA might be critical for the neurobiology of irritability 50,51 . In line with these studies, our result revealed that the higher irritability, the less reaction time occurred in the fear compared to the happiness condition because of a relatively lower in uence of emotional interruptions.…”