Brain Structure in Pediatric Tourette Syndrome

Overview

Journal Mol Psychiatry

Specialties Molecular Biology
Psychiatry

Date 2016 Oct 26

PMID 27777415

Citations 39

Authors

D J Greene

A C Williams Iii

J M Koller

B L Schlaggar

K J Black

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Previous studies of brain structure in Tourette syndrome (TS) have produced mixed results, and most had modest sample sizes. In the present multicenter study, we used structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to compare 103 children and adolescents with TS to a well-matched group of 103 children without tics. We applied voxel-based morphometry methods to test gray matter (GM) and white matter (WM) volume differences between diagnostic groups, accounting for MRI scanner and sequence, age, sex and total GM+WM volume. The TS group demonstrated lower WM volume bilaterally in orbital and medial prefrontal cortex, and greater GM volume in posterior thalamus, hypothalamus and midbrain. These results demonstrate evidence for abnormal brain structure in children and youth with TS, consistent with and extending previous findings, and they point to new target regions and avenues of study in TS. For example, as orbital cortex is reciprocally connected with hypothalamus, structural abnormalities in these regions may relate to abnormal decision making, reinforcement learning or somatic processing in TS.

Citing Articles

Identifying texture features from structural magnetic resonance imaging scans associated with Tourette's syndrome using machine learning.

de Barros M, Duarte K, Hsu C, Lee W, Garcia de Carvalho M J Med Imaging (Bellingham). 2025; 12(2):026001.

PMID: 40028654 PMC: 11866941. DOI: 10.1117/1.JMI.12.2.026001.

Function-Specific Localization in the Supplementary Motor Area: A Potential Effective Target for Tourette Syndrome.

Wang J, Yue J, Wang Y, Li X, Deng X, Lou Y CNS Neurosci Ther. 2025; 31(2):e70280.

PMID: 39981770 PMC: 11843473. DOI: 10.1111/cns.70280.

Structural and functional alterations in the brain gray matter among Tourette syndrome patients: a multimodal meta-analysis of fMRI and VBM studies.

Yang Y, Zhou J, Yang H, Wang A, Tian Y, Luo R J Neurol. 2025; 272(2):133.

PMID: 39812838 PMC: 11735548. DOI: 10.1007/s00415-024-12852-w.

Correlating clinical course with baseline subcortical shape in provisional tic disorder.

Che T, Kim S, Greene D, Heywood A, Ding J, Hershey T CNS Spectr. 2024; 29(6):652-664.

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Vitamin D3 improves iminodipropionitrile-induced tic-like behavior in rats through regulation of GDNF/c-Ret signaling activity.

Li H, Wang X, Wang B, Jia F Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2024; 33(9):3189-3201.

PMID: 38396228 DOI: 10.1007/s00787-024-02376-z.

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