Cytoarchitectonically Defined Volumes of Early Extrastriate Visual Cortex in Unmedicated Adults With Body Dysmorphic Disorder

Jamie D Feusner; Florian Kurth; Eileen Luders; Ronald Ly; Wan-Wa Wong

doi:10.1016/j.bpsc.2021.10.008

Cytoarchitectonically Defined Volumes of Early Extrastriate Visual Cortex in Unmedicated Adults With Body Dysmorphic Disorder

Biol Psychiatry Cogn Neurosci Neuroimaging. 2023 Sep;8(9):909-917. doi: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2021.10.008. Epub 2021 Oct 21.

Authors

Jamie D Feusner¹, Florian Kurth², Eileen Luders³, Ronald Ly⁴, Wan-Wa Wong⁴

Affiliations

¹ Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California. Electronic address: jamie.feusner@utoronto.ca.
² School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
³ Department of Women's and Children's Health, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden; Laboratory of Neuro Imaging, School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California; School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
⁴ Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California.

PMID: 34688924
PMCID: PMC9037993 (available on 2024-09-01)
DOI: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2021.10.008

Abstract

Background: Individuals with body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) misperceive that they have prominent defects in their appearance, resulting in preoccupations, time-consuming rituals, and distress. Previous neuroimaging studies have found abnormal activation patterns in the extrastriate visual cortex, which may underlie experiences of distorted perception of appearance. Correspondingly, we investigated gray matter volumes in individuals with BDD in the early extrastriate visual cortex using cytoarchitectonically defined maps that were previously derived from postmortem brains.

Methods: We analyzed T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging data from 133 unmedicated male and female participants (BDD: n = 65; healthy control subjects: n = 68). We used cytoarchitectonically defined probability maps for the early extrastriate cortex, consisting of areas corresponding to V2, V3d, V3v/VP, V3a, and V4v. Gray matter volumes were compared between groups, supplemented by testing associations with clinical symptoms.

Results: The BDD group exhibited significantly larger gray matter volumes in the left and right early extrastriate cortex. Region-specific follow-up analyses revealed multiple subregions showing larger volumes in BDD, significant in the left V4v. There were no significant associations after corrections for multiple comparisons between gray matter volumes in early extrastriate cortex and BDD symptoms, comorbid symptoms, or duration of illness.

Conclusions: Greater volumes of the early extrastriate visual cortex were evident in those with BDD, which aligns with outcomes of prior studies revealing BDD-specific functional abnormalities in these regions. Enlarged volumes of the extrastriate cortex in BDD might manifest during neurodevelopment, which could predispose individuals to aberrant visual perception and contribute to the core phenotype of distortion of perception for appearance.

Keywords: Cytoarchitecture; Gray matter; MRI; Morphology; Visual perception; Visual processing.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Body Dysmorphic Disorders* / diagnosis
Body Dysmorphic Disorders* / pathology
Brain
Female
Humans
Magnetic Resonance Imaging / methods
Male
Visual Cortex* / diagnostic imaging
Visual Perception / physiology

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

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