Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 2, 2025
Co-analysis of Brain Structure and Function using fMRI and Diffusion-weighted Imaging
Published on: November 8, 2012
White-matter microstructural alterations in patients with functional constipation: A tract-based spatial statistics
Yang Hu1, Zhenzhen Jia1, Lei Zhang1
1Center for Brain Imaging, School of Life Science and Technology, Xidian University, Xi'an, China.
Background:
Highly prevalent functional constipation (FC) belongs to the category of functional gastrointestinal disorders. Neuroimaging studies have demonstrated brain functional and morphometric changes in patients with FC. However, whether FC is associated with white-matter (WM) microstructural alterations remains unclear.
Methods:
Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) were introduced to investigate WM microstructural changes as calculated by fractional anisotropy (FA), mean (MD), axial (AD), and radial diffusivity (RD) in 26 FC patients and 31 healthy controls.
Key Results:
Patients with FC relative to healthy controls had significantly decreased FA with increased MD/RD in the genu (GCC) and body (BCC) of the corpus callosum, right cingulum (Cing), bilateral anterior corona radiata (ACR), bilateral superior corona radiata (SCR), and left posterior corona radiata (PCR) (pFWE < 0.05). Between-group difference was only in the left SCR and PCR when regressing out anxiety and depression as covariates.
Conclusions And Inferences:
These WM tracts are mainly responsible for sensory and emotional information communication and corresponding functional integration; thus, our findings indicate an association between FC and WM microstructural abnormalities in regions involved with visceral afferent and emotional-arousal processing. Alterations in WM microstructures including the CC, cingulum, and ACR are more related to psychological symptoms than constipation, which might have greater impact on brain structures.
