Abnormal regional homogeneity and its correlations with personality in first-episode, treatment-naive somatization disorder

• Increased regional neural activity in the DMN was present in SD patients.
• A positive correlation was found between ReHo of the left AG and EPQ-N in SD.
• SD patients were first-episode, drug-naive individuals.

BackgroundStructural and functional abnormalities of the default mode network (DMN) and their correlations with personality have been found in somatization disorder (SD). However, no study is conducted to identify regional neural activity and its correlations with personality in SD. In this study, regional homogeneity (ReHo) was applied to explore whether abnormal regional neural activity is present in patients with SD and its correlations with personality measured by Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ).MethodsTwenty-five first-episode, treatment-naive patients with SD and 28 sex-, age-, and education-matched healthy controls participated in the whole study. During the scanning, all subjects were instructed to lie still with their eyes closed and remain awake. A ReHo approach was employed to analyze the data.ResultsThe SD group had a significantly increased ReHo in the left angular gyrus (AG) compared to healthy controls. The increased ReHo positively correlated to the neuroticism scores of EPQ (EPQ-N). No other correlations were detected between the ReHo values and other related factors, such as symptom severity and education level.ConclusionsOur results suggest that abnormal regional neural activity of the DMN may play a key role in SD with clinical implications and emphasize the importance of the DMN in the pathophysiological process of SD.