Brain morphometry differences and similarities between Crohn’s disease patients and healthy controls
Poster No:
374
Submission Type:
Abstract Submission
Authors:
Benjamin Yeske1, Jiancheng Hou2, Daniel Chu1, Nagesh Adluru1, Veena Nair1, Poonam Beniwal-Patel3, Sumona Saha1, Vivek Prabhakaran1
Institutions:
1University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, 2Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou, Fujian, 3Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI
First Author:
Co-Author(s):
Introduction:
Crohn's disease (CD), one of the main phenotypes of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), can affect any part of the gastrointestinal tract (Godala et al., 2022; Fiorindi et al., 2022). It can impact the function of gastrointestinal secretions, as well as increasing the intestinal permeability leading to an aberrant immunological response and subsequent intestinal inflammation (Chichlowski and Hale, 2008). Studies have reported anatomical and functional brain changes in CD patients (CDs), possibly due to increased inflammatory markers and microglial cells that play key roles in communicating between the brain, gut, and systemic immune system (Sajadinejad et al., 2012; Hou et al., 2019). To date, no studies have demonstrated similarities between functional or morphological brain changes seen in CDs and brain morphometry observed in older healthy controls.
Methods:
For the present study, twelve young CDs in remission (M = 26.08 years, SD = 4.9 years, 7 male) were recruited from an IBD Clinic. Data from 12 young age-matched healthy controls (HCs) (24.5 years, SD = 3.6 years, 8 male) and 12 older HCs (59 years, SD = 8 years, 8 male), previously collected for a different study under a similar MR protocol, were analyzed as controls. T1 weighted images and structural image processing techniques were used to extract cortical thickness, fractal dimensionality, gyrification, and sulcal depth, to test our hypothesis that young CDs have different brain surface morphometry than their age-matched young HCs and furthermore, appear more similar to older HCs. The phonemic verbal fluency (VF) task (the Controlled Oral Word Association Test, COWAT) (Benton, 1976) was administered to test verbal cognitive ability and executive control.
Results:
Our results demonstrated that CDs had more brain regions with differences in brain morphometry measures when compared to the young HCs (Figure 1) as compared to the old HCs (Figure 2), suggesting that CD has an effect on the brain that makes it appear more similar to old HCs. Our study did not identify any group differences for VF task performance. However, our study demonstrated that the atypical brain morphometry of CDs is associated with function on a cognitive task, with more brain regions by morphometry comparisons associated with the VF task in CDs versus the young and old HCs.
·Figure 1. Surface morphometry differences between young CDs and young healthy controls
·Figure 2. Surface morphometry differences between young CDs and old healthy controls
Conclusions:
Our results suggest that even younger CDs may be showing some evidence of structural brain changes that demonstrate increased resemblance to older HC brains rather than their similarly aged healthy counterparts. While we didn't find evidence of VF performance differences between groups, it appears CDs recruit more brain regions in order to perform the same VF task as compared to both young and old HCs. It is possible these differences are a result of the varying medications CDs require to combat the disease process or a result of the disease process itself, but a causal relationship is not assessable within the constraints of the present study.
Disorders of the Nervous System:
Neurodevelopmental/ Early Life (eg. ADHD, autism) 1
Modeling and Analysis Methods:
Other Methods
Neuroanatomy, Physiology, Metabolism and Neurotransmission:
Cortical Anatomy and Brain Mapping 2
Keywords:
Aging
Cortex
STRUCTURAL MRI
1|2Indicates the priority used for review
Provide references using author date format
Chichlowski, M. et al. (2008), ‘Bacterial-mucosal interactions in inflammatory bowel disease: an alliance gone bad', Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol, vol. 295, no. 6, pp. G1139-1149.
Fiorindi, C. et al. (2022), 'Inflammatory bowel disease and customized nutritional intervention focusing on gut microbiome balance', Nutrients, vol. 14, no. 19, pp. 126-131.
Godala, M. et al. (2022), 'Dietary interventions in inflammatory bowel disease', Nutrients, vol. 14, no. 20, pp. 157-168.
Hou, J. et al. (2019), 'Alterations in resting-state functional connectivity in patients with Crohn's disease in remission', Scientific Reports, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 7412.
Sajadinejad, S. et al. (2012), 'Psychological issues in inflammatory bowel disease: An overview', Gastroenterol Res Pract, pp. 106502.