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. 2023 Jul 3;22(5):935–962. doi: 10.2174/1570159X21666230703091435

Table 3.

Brain morphological alterations in anxiety disorders.

Study Participants Analysis Brain Results
Massana et al., 2003 [239] 12 PD / 12 HC ROIs VBM: amygdala, hippocampus, temporal lobe GMV - Amygdala
Rauch et al., 2004 [251] 10 SP animal / 20 HC ROIs1 SBM(t) SBM(t) - Insula, pregenual ACC, PCC, superior and medial occipital cortex
Yoo et al., 2005 [278] 18 PD / 18 HC Whole-brain VBM GMV - putamen
Uchida et al., 2008 [267] 19 PD / 20 HC ROIs2 VBM
GMV - insula, midbrain and pons
GMV - ACC
Asami et al., 2009 [240] 24 PD / 24 HC Whole-brain VBM GMV - dmPFC, vmPFC, amygdala, ACC, STG, insula,
occipitotemporal, cerebellum
Hayano et al., 2009 [242] 30 PD / 30 HC ROIs VBM: amygdala, hippocampus GMV - Amygdala
Liao et al., 2011 [269] 18 PD / 18 HC Whole-brain VBM
GMV - mPFC
GMV - ITG, hippocampus, parahippocampus
Hettema et al., 2012 [12] 17 GAD / 17 HC ROIs VBM: amygdala,
hippocampus, ACC, OFC
GMV - Hippocampus
Syal et al., 2012 [275] 13 SAD / 13 HC Whole-brain SBM(t,v) SBMt - Fusiform gyrus, ITG, Frontal and Temporal poles, mOFC, Insula, Postcentral and Supramarginal
Talati et al., 2012 [282] 33 SAD/ 16 PD/ 37 HC Whole-brain VBM


GMV SAD - Fusiform, parahippocampus, cerebellum
GMV SAD - STG
GMV PD - Cuneus
GMV PC - Precentral, postcentral, MCC
Fisler et al., 2013 [248] 20 SP (spiders) / 20 HC ROI VBM amygdala GMV - Amygdala
Na et al., 2013 [266] 22 PD (12 with agoraphobia) / 22 HC ROIs3 VBM amygdala, hippocampus, parahippocampus thalamus, insula GMV PD with agoraphobia - mOFC
Linares et al., 2014 [250] 19 SP (spiders)/
17 HC
Whole-brain SBM(t) SBMt - ACC
Lai et al., 2015 [272] 53 PD / 54 HC Whole-brain VBM GMV - IFG, insula
Tükel et al., 2015 [283] 27 SAD / 27 HC Whole-brain VBM GMV - MTG, ITG, Precuneus, Fusiform
Moon et al., 2017 [230] 20 GAD / 20 HC Whole-brain VBM GMV - Midbrain, Thalamus, Hippocampus, Insula, STG
Makovac et al., 2016 [245] 19 GAD / 19 HC Whole-brain VBM GMV - Supramarginal, postcentral, precentral
Kawaguchi et al., 2016 [274] 13 SAD / 18 HC ROI VBM: Insula GMV - Insula
Andreescu et al., 2017 [264] 28 GAD / 31 HC Whole-brain SBM(t,v) SBMt - mOFC, rACC
SBMv - IFG
Asami et al., 2018 [241] 38 PD / 38 HC ROI SBM(v): Amygdala SBMv - Amygdala
Bas-Hoogendam et al., 2018 [247] 39 SAD (22 subclinic) / 62 Hc ROIs4 SBM(t,v,a)
SBMt - rACC, inferior parietal, supramarginal, temporal pole, transverse temporal
SBMt - MFG, OFG, STG, Fusiform, rACC
Asami et al., 2018b [281] 25 PD / 25 HC ROI VBM and SBMs: Thalamus GMV - Thalamus
SBMs inward deformation
Ma et al., 2019 [246] 27 GAD / 28 HC Whole-brain VBM GMV - Precentral gyrus, SFG
Chen et al., 2020 [231] 72 GAD / 57 HC Whole-brain VBM GMV - IFG, sgACC, vmPFC, dmPFC, insula
Kunas et al., 2020 [243] 143 PD / 178 HC ROIs5 VBM GMV - Amygdala
Li et al., 2020 [263] 19 GAD / 19 HC ROIs VBM: ACC, insula, SMA, PFC GMV - mPFC, ACC, OFC
Ni et al., 2020 [268] 26 PD / 27 HC Whole-brain SBM(t) SBMt - Fusiform
Zhang et al., 2020 [270] 32 SAD / 32 HC Whole-brain SBM(t,a)
SBMt - SFG, MFG, rACC
SBMa - SFG rACC MFG STG OFC
Yoshida et al., 2020 [279] 38 PD / 38 HC ROI SBM(v,s): NAcc
SBMv - NAcc
SBMs - NAcc inward deformation
Takaishi et al., 2021 [232] 38 PD / 38 HC ROIs SBM(v): Hippocampal subfields SBMv - Hippocampus (cornu ammonis 2/3)
Atmaca et al., 2021 [273] 21 SAD / 20 HC ROI VBM: insula GMV - insula
Zhang et al., 2022 [277] 49 SAD / 53 HC Whole-brain VBM GMV - thalamus, putamen, parahippocampus

Abbreviations: ACC, Anterior Cingulate Cortex; dmPFC, dorsomedial Prefrontal Cortex; GAD, Generalized Anxiety Disorder; GMV, Gray Matter Volume; HC, Healthy Controls; IFG, Inferior Frontal Gyrus; ITG, Inferior Temporal Gyrus; MCC, Middle Cingulate Cortex; MFG, Middle Frontal Gyrus; MTG, Middle Temporal Gyrus; NAcc, Nucleus Accumbens; OFC, Orbitofrontal Cortex; PCC, Posterior Cingulate Cortex; PD, Panic Disorder; rACC, rostral Anterior Cingulate; ROI, Region-of-Interest; SAD, Social Anxiety Disorder; SBM(t,v,a,s), Surface-Based Morphometry (thickness, volume, area, shape); sgACC, subgenual Anterior Cingulate; SMA, Supplementary Motor Area; SP, specific phobia; STG, Superior Temporal Gyrus; vmPFC, ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex.

1: OFC, cingulate cortex, insula, parahippocampus, temporal pole, somatosensory cortex, visual cortex.

2: Amygdala, hippocampus, insula, ACC, thalamus, hypothalamus, midbrain.

3: Amygdala, hippocampus, parahippocampus thalamus, insula, mOFC.

4: Amygdala, hippocampus, pallidum, putamen, SFG, MFG, OFG, precentral gyrus, cACC, rACC, insula, superior parietal, inferior parietal, precuneus, supramarginal gyrus, postcentral gyrus, temporal pole, ITG, STG, fusiform gyrus and transverse temporal gyrus.

5: Amygdala, ACC, hippocampus, insula, thalamus, OFC.

Lower regional GMV/SBM in patients.

Greater regional GMV/SBM in patients.

Italics = Uncorrected Brain Results (or corrected with p>.001 AlphaSim).