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Magnetic resonance imaging and functional constipation

Yonghuan Feng1,2 ,  Guanya Li1,2 ,  Yang Hu1,2 ,  Wenchao Zhang1,2 ,  Weibin Ji1,2 ,  Huiling Zhou1,2 ,  Zhao Yan1,2 ,  Zaichen La1,2 ,  Mengshan Li1,2 ,  Yi Zhang1,2* ,  Yongzhan Nie3*
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1 Center for Brain Imaging, School of Life Science and Technology, Xidian University and Engineering Research Center of Molecular and Neuro Imaging, Ministry of Education, Xi’an, Shaanxi, China
2 International Joint Research Center for Advanced Medical Imaging and Intelligent Diagnosis and Treatment and Xi’an Key Laboratory of Intelligent Sensing and Regulation of Trans-Scale Life Information, School of Life Science and Technology, Xidian University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, China
3 State Key Laboratory of Cancer Biology, National Clinical Research Center for Digestive Diseases and Xijing Hospital of Digestive Diseases, The Air Force Medical University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, China
JCBP 2024, 2(1), 1463 https://doi.org/10.36922/jcbp.1463
Submitted: 5 August 2023 | Accepted: 27 October 2023 | Published: 4 December 2023
© 2023 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
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Abstract

With the rapid development of society, the incidence of functional constipation (FC) is steadily increasing annually. As it poses an elevated risk for various physical and neuropsychiatric illnesses, the occurrence and development mechanisms of FC have garnered escalating attention from researchers. Accumulating evidence from studies using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) suggests that FC is associated with alternations in brain function and structure, particularly within brain regions and networks involved in emotion regulation, motor control, somatic sensation, and self-reference. Specifically, significant differences in baseline brain activity and functional connectivity integrity exist between patients with FC and healthy controls. Patients with FC exhibit abnormal cortical morphometry, a lower gray/white matter volume, and impaired white matter integrity. These changes correlate with somatic symptoms, such as the difficulty level of defecation and the sensation of incomplete evacuation. Differences between patients with anxiety/depressive disorders (FCAD) and those without such disorders (FCNAD) underscore the pivotal role of psychiatric factors in FC development. In addition, studies have verified that female patients experience decreased emotional regulation, contributing to a higher prevalence of FC and more severe constipation symptoms than their male counterparts. This paper provides a comprehensive literature review, drawing upon existing MRI studies to explore the various brain abnormalities evident in patients with FC. Through the analysis of these studies, our aim is to shed light on the underlying neural mechanisms and offer valuable insights into the development of novel and effective treatments for FC.

Keywords
Magnetic resonance imaging
Functional constipation
Neural mechanisms
Psychiatric factors
Brain function and structure
Funding
National Natural Science Foundation of China
National Key R&D Program of China
Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities
Natural Science Basic Research Program of Shaanxi
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no competing interest.
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