Background Internet addition disorder (lAD) is currently becoming a serious mental health problem among Chinese adolescents. The pathogenesis of lAD, however, remains unclear. The purpose of this study applied regional homogeneity (ReHo) method to analyze encephalic functional characteristic of lAD college students under resting state. Methods Functional magnetic resonanc image (fMRI) was performed in 19 lAD college students and 19 controls under resting state. ReHo method was used to analyze the differences between the average ReHo in two groups. Results The following increased ReHo brain regions were found in lAD group compared with control group: cerebellum, brainstem, right cingulate gyrus, bilateral parahippocampus, right frontal lobe (rectal gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus and middle frontal gyrus), left superior frontal gyrus, left precuneus, right postcentral gyrus, right middle occipital gyrus, right inferior temporal gyrus, left superior temporal gyrus and middle temporal gyrus. The decreased ReHo brain regions were not found in the lAD group compared with the control group. Conclusions There are abnormalities in regional homogeneity in lAD college students compared with the controls and enhancement of synchronization in most encephalic regions can be found. The results reflect the functional change of brain in lAD college students. The connections between the enhancement of synchronization among cerebellum, brainstem, limbic lobe, frontal lobe and apical lobe may be relative to reward pathways.
LIU JunGAO Xue-pingIsoken OsundeLI XinZHOU Shun-keZHENG Hui-rongLI Ling-jiang