Relationship between neural activity and immunity in patients with undifferentiated somatoform disorder

• Published in: Psychiatry research. Neuroimaging 2012-06, Vol.202 (3), p.252-256
• Main Authors: Koh, Kyung Bong, Sohn, Seok-Han, Kang, Jee In, Lee, Young-joon, Lee, Jong Doo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Age; Asymmetry; Biological and medical sciences; Blastogenic responses to PHA; Brain - diagnostic imaging; Brain - pathology; Brain Mapping; Case-Control Studies; Cerebral blood flow; Chi-Square Distribution; Cysteine - analogs & derivatives; Female; Functional Laterality; Humans; Immune response; Immunity; Immunity - drug effects; Immunity - physiology; Left inferior parietal lobule; Left supramarginal gyrus; Linear Models; Lymphocyte Activation - drug effects; Lymphocyte Activation - physiology; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Neuroimaging; Organotechnetium Compounds; Perfusion; phytohemagglutinins; Phytohemagglutinins - pharmacology; Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychometrics; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Radiology; Regional cerebral perfusion; Sex; Single photon emission computed tomography; Somatoform disorders; Somatoform Disorders - diagnostic imaging; Somatoform Disorders - immunology; Somatoform Disorders - pathology; Somatoform disorders. Psychosomatics; Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon; Undifferentiated somatoform disorder; Young Adult
• ISSN: 0925-4927; 1872-7506
• DOI: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2011.11.006

Abstract It has been suggested that somatoform disorders are related to both the brain and the immune system, and that immune functions may be influenced by cerebral asymmetry. However, few studies have examined the relationship between brain activity and immune function in somatoform disorders. Thirty-two patients with non-medicated undifferentiated somatoform disorder were enrolled in this study. Blastogenic responses to phytohemagglutinin (PHA) were used to measure immunity. Regional cerebral perfusion was measured by 99m-Tc-ethyl cysteinate dimer single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT). Significant hypoperfusion was found at the left inferior parietal lobule and the left supramarginal gyrus in the more immune-suppressed (MIS) subgroup compared with the less immune-suppressed (LIS) subgroup. However, no regions of significant hyperperfusion were found in the MIS subgroup compared with the LIS subgroup. Decreased cerebral blood flow in the left inferior parietal lobule and the left supramarginal gyrus in the patient group was also significantly associated with reduced blastogenic responses to PHA regardless of sex and age. These results suggest that the left inferior parietal lobule and the left supramarginal gyrus might play an immunomodulating role in patients with undifferentiated somatoform disorder. In addition, these results suggest the role of cerebral asymmetry in altered immunity in the patients.