Individualized gray matter morphological abnormalities unveil two neuroanatomical internet gaming disorder subtypes.

BACKGROUND

High heterogeneity among individuals with internet gaming disorder (IGDs) hampers the discovery of neuroimaging findings. To address this heterogeneity, this study adopted the newly proposed approach based on individualized gray matter morphological differences to objectively characterize neuroanatomical subtypes of IGDs.

METHODS

92 IGDs and 56 demographically matched healthy controls (HCs) were recruited for structural imaging scans and clinical tests. Heterogeneity through discriminative analysis identifies IGD subtypes through individual local GMV aberrances. Voxel-wise volumes, clinical features, and molecular architectures were explored between subtypes.

RESULTS

Two distinct and robust IGD subgroups were revealed, which showed opposite patterns of structural brain abnormalities. Subtype 1 showed decreased GMVs in DMN and SN. Subtype 2 exhibited widespread increased GMVs in the striatal mesolimbic pathway. Moreover, the neuroanatomical abnormalities of subtype 1 are mainly associated with 5-HT receptors and GABAergic receptors, and that subtype 2 are mainly associated with the dopamine system.

CONCLUSIONS

These results revealed two objective neuroanatomical subtypes, providing new insights into the heterogeneity of IGD and contributing to the precise treatment of IGDs.