Objective      To investigate the characteristics of spontaneous brain activity alterations in somatoform disorders (SFD) by analyzing the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF).       Methods      A total of 21 outpatients with SFD in our clinical psychology department from June 2014 to June 2015 were recruited in the study. Another 21 normal volunteers with strictly matched ages

genders and educational levels served as control. 3.0T MRI scannin

g was carried out to collect T

2

WI

3D-T

1

WI and resting-state functional magnetic resonance images. ALFF map within the group and between the 2 groups was analyzed by student’s t test

with the adjustment of AlphaSim (P0.01

clusters40) for correlation of ALFF value extracted from different regions with clinical data.       Results      Compared with normal control

the regions with increased ALFF values were bilateral frontal lobe and bilateral anterior cingulate cortex in the SFD patients

and those with decreased ALFF values were right temporal lobe

left insula

left paracentral lobule

and bilateral postcentral gyrus. Negative correlations were found between Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) scores and ALFF values of the left ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC) (r=-0.564

P=0.008)

between SCL-90 scores and ALFF values of the left insula (r=-0.505

P=0.020)

and between the disease duration and ALFF values of the right temporal lobe (r=-0.514

P=0.017) in SFD group.       Conclusion      Spontaneous neural activity changes exist in resting state brain of SFD patients

and these abnormal activities can partly explain the neurophysiological fundamentals of somatoform disorders.