| Objective:In this study, we used voxel-based analysis (VBA) of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) study to correlate the different temperament of tridimensional personality questionnaire (TPQ) with fractional anisotropy (FA) of white matter in young healthy volunteers, and studied male and female volunteers separately to explore varieties of personality related brain areas between male and female. Material and methods:Total 333 healthy right handed vonlunteers ranged from 18-30 years old took part in this study.We excluded 27 cases for insufficient data and excessive head movement, so the final numer of volunteers was 306 (male:150, female:156).The mean age of male and female was 22.20±2.57 years and 23.17±2.28 years separately. All volunteers completed the Chinese version of the TPQ and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI).All preprocessed DTI datum was analysed with SPM8 soft ware in partial correlation analysis, age and depression scores as controlled variable.We study the correlation between harm avoidande (HA), novelty seeking (NS), reward dependence (RD) and FA; then we studied male and female volunteers separately with the same statistical methods.we performed the analysis without a correction, a voxel significance threshold p<0.001 and a cluster extent threshold of 30 voxels.Results:The HA score of male and female was 13.43±6.18,15.77±6.36 respectively, P value was 0.001, which showed striking statistical significance.HA of the total sample correlated positively with FA of midbrain, pons, the left parahippocampal gyrus, inferior temporal gyrus, middle temporal gyrus, the right globus pallidus, the bilateral superior parietal lobule, and correlated negatively with FA of the left putamen, thalamus, the bilateral precuneus.HA of the male correlated positively with FA of the left superior temporal gyrus, inferior parietal lobule, the right cuneus, and correlated negatively with the left posterior lobe of cerebellum (uvula), the right precuneus.HA of the female correlated positively with FA of the left superior temporal gyrus, superior parietal lobule, the right cuneus, and correlated negatively with the left posterior lobe of cerebellum (uvula), the right precuneus.The NS score of male and female was 14.55±4.66,14.08±5:42 respectively, P value was 0.416.NS of the total sample correlated negatively with FA of the right supramarginal gyrus and the left inferior frontal gyrus.NS of the male correlated negatively with FA of the left inferior patietal lobule, the posterior lobe of cerebellum and pons.The RD score of male and female was 19.03±3.39,18.87±3.59 respectively, P value was 0.686.RD of the total sample correlated positively with FA of the right angular gyrus, and correlated negatively with FA of the right temporal pole, superior temporal gyrus. RD of the male correlated positively with FA of the right supplemetary motor area, cingulate gyrus, paracentral lobule, inferior parietal lobule. RD of the female correlated negatively with FA of the left superior frontal gyrus, the right middle frontal gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus, middle temporal gyrus, inferior temporal gyrus, fusiform gyrus.Conclusion To our knowledge, this is the first study which analyzed the personality related white matter diffusion in VBA.Our results suggested that FA of the special brain areas associated with different personality dimension, and provided theory support to personaltiy related microstucture of white matter; moreover, we observed some personality related brain structure in the first time, such as HA correlated positively with FA of the bilateral paracentral lobule, the right genu of corpus callosum, NS correlated negatively FA of the left posterior lobule of cerebellum, pons, which offered more information about personality related brain structure for the future study.Besides, our results demonstrated that the correlation between personality dimension and FA of the special brain area is different between male and female, which indicated that sex and personality related brain structure was interacted, so we can further study the effect of sexual dimorphism in the brain on personality in the future sdudy. |
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