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Brain white matter alterations in young adult male patients with childhood-onset growth hormone deficiency: a diffusion tensor imaging study

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Abstract

Purpose

This study aimed to detect white matter changes and different effects of thyroid hormone on the white matter integrity in young adult male patients with childhood-onset growth hormone deficiency (CO-GHD), compared with healthy people.

Methods

Magnetic resonance imaging (structural imaging and diffusion tensor imaging) was performed in 17 young adult male patients with CO-GHD and 17 healthy male controls. The white matter volume, mean diffusivity (MD) values and fractional anisotropy (FA) values were quantified and compared between two groups (CO-GHD group vs. control group). We assessed the interaction effects between thyroid hormone and groups (CO-GHD group vs. control group) on white matter integrity.

Results

Patients with CO-GHD exhibited similar white matter volumes compared with controls. However, compared with the controls, patients with CO-GHD showed a significant reduction in FA values in six clusters and a substantial increase in MD values in four clusters, mainly involving the corticospinal tracts, corpus callosum and so on. Moreover, after correcting for insulin-like growth factor-1 levels, the significant interaction effects between groups (CO-GHD group vs. control group) and serum free thyroxine levels on MD values were noted in three clusters, mainly involving in superior longitudinal fasciculus and sagittal stratum.

Conclusion

In conclusion, young males with CO-GHD showed white matter changes in multiple brain regions and different effects of thyroid hormone on the white matter integrity.

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Data availability

The data supporting the study findings are available from the corresponding author upon a reasonable request.

Code availability

Software application or custom code employed in this article are available from the corresponding author upon a reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We thank all participants in our study. We thank the Home for Researchers (https://www.home-for-researchers.com) for their help.

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [81400774 and 81673184] and Author H.Y. and H.P. received this; the Beijing Municipal Natural Science Foundation [7192153] and Author H.P. received this; the CAMS Innovation Fund for Medical Science, CAMS Initiative for Innovative Medicine [CIFMS2016-I2M-1-008] and Author H.P. received this; the National Key Program of Clinical Science [WBYZ2011-873] and Author H.Z. received this; and the National High Level Hospital Clinical Research Funding [2022-PUMCH-A-249 and 2022-PUMCH-B-016] and Author H.Y. and H.Z. received this.

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Zhibo Zhou, Yunyun Luo

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Endocrinology of National Health Commission, Department of Endocrinology, State Key Laboratory of Complex Severe and Rare Diseases, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Science and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China

    Zhibo Zhou, Yunyun Luo, Hongbo Yang, Linjie Wang, Shi Chen, Lian Duan, Fengying Gong, Huijuan Zhu & Hui Pan

  2. Beijing First Hospital of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine, Beijing, China

    Kang Li

  3. School of Artificial Intelligence, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing, China

    Suyu Zhong

  4. School of Arts and Communication, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China

    Yanlin Zhu

  5. State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China

    Gaolang Gong

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Contributions

Z.Z. and Y.L.: were involved in conceptualization and methodology; conducted software analysis; performed formal analysis and investigation; and wrote the manuscript. S.Z. and G.G.: were involved in methodology and software analysis; and conducted formal analysis, manuscript editing and visualization. K.L., Y.Z., and H.Y.: were involved in conceptualization and methodology; performed software analysis; managed resources; and conducted manuscript review and editing. L.W., S.C., L.D., and F.G.: were involved in conceptualization and methodology; managed resources; and participated in data curation and manuscript review and editing. H.Z.: was involved in conceptualization and data validation; managed resources; performed manuscript review and editing; and conducted project administration, funding acquisition, and supervision. H.P.: was involved in conceptualization and methodology; performed software analysis and validation; managed resources; and conducted manuscript review and editing, project administration, funding acquisition, and supervision.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Huijuan Zhu or Hui Pan.

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This study protocol received approval from the Peking Union Medical College Hospital’s Ethics Committees.

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Zhou, Z., Luo, Y., Li, K. et al. Brain white matter alterations in young adult male patients with childhood-onset growth hormone deficiency: a diffusion tensor imaging study. Endocrine 83, 724–732 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12020-023-03583-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12020-023-03583-5

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