RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Brain volumetric changes in the general population following the COVID-19 outbreak and lockdown
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 2020.09.08.285007
DO 10.1101/2020.09.08.285007
A1 Tom Salomon
A1 Adi Cohen
A1 Gal Ben-Zvi
A1 Rani Gera
A1 Shiran Oren
A1 Dana Roll
A1 Gal Rozic
A1 Anastasia Saliy
A1 Niv Tik
A1 Galia Tsarfati
A1 Ido Tavor
A1 Tom Schonberg
A1 Yaniv Assaf
YR 2020
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/09/12/2020.09.08.285007.abstract
AB The COVID-19 outbreak introduced unprecedented health-risks, as well as pressure on the financial, social, and psychological well-being due to the response to the outbreak1–4. Here, we examined the manifestations of the COVID-19 outbreak on the brain structure in the healthy population, following the initial phase of the pandemic in Israel. We pre-registered our hypothesis that the intense experience of the outbreak potentially induced stress-related brain modifications5–8. Volumetric changes in n = 50 participants scanned before and after the COVID-19 outbreak and lockdown, were compared with n = 50 control participants that were scanned twice prior to the pandemic. The pandemic provided a rare opportunity to examine brain plasticity in a natural experiment. We found volumetric increases in bilateral amygdalae, putamen, and the anterior temporal cortices. Changes in the amygdalae diminished as time elapsed from lockdown relief, suggesting that the intense experience associated with the pandemic outbreak induced volumetric changes in brain regions commonly associated with stress and anxiety9–11.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.