Correlation between Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex Activation to Food Aromas and Cue-driven Eating: An fMRI Study - PubMed (original) (raw)

Correlation between Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex Activation to Food Aromas and Cue-driven Eating: An fMRI Study

William J A Eiler 2nd et al. Chemosens Percept. 2012.

Abstract

Food aromas are signals associated with both food's availability and pleasure. Previous research from this laboratory has shown that food aromas under fasting conditions evoke robust activation of medial prefrontal brain regions thought to reflect reward value (Bragulat, et al. 2010). In the current study, eighteen women (eleven normal-weight and seven obese) underwent a two-day imaging study (one after being fed, one while fasting). All were imaged on a 3T Siemens Trio-Tim scanner while sniffing two food (F; pasta and beef) odors, one non-food (NF; Douglas fir) odor, and an odorless control (CO). Prior to imaging, participants rated hunger and perceived odor qualities, and completed the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEBQ) to assess "Externality" (the extent to which eating is driven by external food cues). Across all participants, both food and non-food odors (compared to CO) elicited large blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) responses in olfactory and reward-related areas, including the medial prefrontal and anterior cingulate cortex, bilateral orbitofrontal cortex, and bilateral piriform cortex, amygdala, and hippocampus. However, food odors produced greater activation of medial prefrontal cortex, left lateral orbitofrontal cortex and inferior insula than non-food odors. Moreover, there was a significant correlation between the [F > CO] BOLD response in ventromedial prefrontal cortex and "Externality" sub-scale scores of the DEBQ, but only under the fed condition; no such correlation was present with the [NF > CO] response. This suggests that in those with high Externality, ventromedial prefrontal cortex may inappropriately valuate external food cues in the absence of internal hunger.

Keywords: Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire; Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Obesity; Olfaction; Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex.

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Figures

Figure 1

Figure 1

Mean hunger scores for hunger type (General, Pasta and Roast Beef) assessed by Cardello's LMS (Cardello, et al., 2005) under both the Fed (blue bars) and Fast (red bars) session. The y-axis values indicate the labeled magnitude scale (100 mm in length) presented to the participants when rating hunger. All between-session comparisons resulted in significant (p < 0.001) differences with greater hunger experienced in the Fast session than the Fed session.

Figure 2

Figure 2

BOLD activation induced by sniffing odors in a mixed sample of 18 obese and normal-weight women under both Fed and Fast sessions. A) Food (F) odors compared to sniffing odorless control events (CO); [F > CO] contrast. B) Non-Food (NF) odors compared to CO; [NF > CO] contrast. C and D) Direct comparison of Food and Non-Food odors; [F > NF] contrast. A - D: magenta box, medial prefrontal cortex; green box, ventromedial prefrontal cortex; blue ovals, left lateral orbitofrontal cortex; red circles, left and right amydala; black boxes, left and right hippocampus; purple circle, 6mm sphere encompassing peak of significant medial prefrontal activation reported in (Bragulat et al., 2010). Results in panels A and B displayed at cluster-level significance, _q_clust(FWE) < 0.005, voxel-wise height threshold, _p_ < 0.001 (uncorrected). Results in panels C and D displayed at _p_ < 0.01 (uncorrected), cluster size, _k_ > 25. Color bar indicates t statistic values.

Figure 3

Figure 3

A) [F > CO] BOLD contrast in a mixed sample of 18 obese and normal-weight women under the Fed session. Voxel-wise height threshold, p < 0.001 (uncorrected), cluster size, _k_ > 50. B) Positive correlation between DEBQ externality sub-scale scores and [F > CO] response under the Fed session. Display threshold, p < 0.001 (uncorrected), cluster size, _k_ > 10.

Figure 4

Figure 4

A) Illustrative plot of correlation between Externality and [F > CO] response, as extracted from the cluster of significant, positive correlation (threshold, p < 0.001) under the Fed session. However, non-significant relationships between Externality scores were observed with **B)** [F > CO] response under the Fast session, C) [NF > CO] response under the Fed session and D) [NF > CO] response under the Fast session.

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