Regional homogeneity in internet addiction adolescents: a resting-state functional MRI

Abstract

Objective To investigate the regional homogeneity (ReHo) changes of internet addiction (IA) adolescents using resting-state fMRI. Methods Twelve internet addiction adolescents and 12 healthy volunteers matched with age, gender and education level were collected from capital institute of pediatrics from October 2014 to August 2015. Mini-mental state examination was done for all subjects. Regional homogeneity of rs-fMRI were evaluated and compared between the two groups by using independent sample t-test. The correlation between ReHo values in different brain regions and hours spent online per week of the IA group was analyzed. Results Compared with normal controls, the adolescents with IA showed significant increased hours online per week (P<0.01). They also showed significant decreased ReHo in the left postcentral gyrus (129 voxels, t=4.45), left inferior parietal lobule (156 voxels, t= 5.02) and left inferior frontal gyrus (117 voxels, t=4.14). No increased ReHo region was found in the whole brain. The correlation analysis showed negative correlation between the hours spent online per week and the ReHo values of the left postcentral gyrus(r= -0.874, P<0.05), left inferior parietal lobule(r= -0.746, P< 0.05), and left inferior frontal gyrus(r= -0.695, P<0.05). Conclusion Adolescents with internet addiction have great ReHo alterations in many brain regions, which were linked to the degree of internet dependency. Key words: Behavior, addictive; Magnetic resonance imaging; Child