AUTHOR=Thapaliya Kiran , Marshall-Gradisnik Sonya , Staines Donald , Su Jiasheng , Barnden Leighton 

TITLE=Alteration of Cortical Volume and Thickness in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Neuroscience

VOLUME=16

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnins.2022.848730

DOI=10.3389/fnins.2022.848730

ISSN=1662-453X

ABSTRACT=<p>Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) patients suffer from neurocognitive impairment. In this study, we investigated cortical volumetric and thickness changes in ME/CFS patients and healthy controls (HC). We estimated mean surface-based cortical volume and thickness from 18 ME/CFS patients who met International Consensus Criteria (ICC) and 26 HC using FreeSurfer. Vertex-wise analysis showed significant reductions in the caudal middle frontal gyrus (<italic>p</italic> = 0.0016) and precuneus (<italic>p</italic> = 0.013) thickness in ME/CFS patients compared with HC. Region based analysis of sub-cortical volumes found that amygdala volume (<italic>p</italic> = 0.002) was significantly higher in ME/CFS patients compared with HC. We also performed interaction-with-group regressions with clinical measures to test for cortical volume and thickness correlations in ME/CFS with opposite slopes to HC (abnormal). ME/CFS cortical volume and thickness regressions with fatigue, heart-rate variability, heart rate, sleep disturbance score, respiratory rate, and cognitive performance were abnormal. Our study demonstrated different cortical volume and thickness in ME/CFS patients and showed abnormal cortical volume and thickness regressions with key symptoms of ME/CFS patients.</p>