Systematic Reduction of Gray Matter Volume in Anorexia Nervosa, but Increase With Clinical Symptoms in the Prefrontal and Posterior Insular Cortices: A Multicenter Neuroimaging Study (original) (raw)
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Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, 2021
Whole-brain T1-weighted imaging and diffusion tensor imaging was performed in 35 adult women with anorexia nervosa (AN) and 35 healthy controls. We conducted voxel-based group comparisons for gray matter volume (GMV), cortical thickness (CT), and fractional anisotropy (FA) values, using age and total intracranial volume as nuisance covariates. We then conducted the same group comparisons for these three measures, but this time also controlled for the following global pathological measures: total GMV, mean CT across the whole brain, and mean FA across the entire white matter skeleton. Compared with the healthy controls, AN patients had lower GMV and CT in widespread cortical regions, and smaller FA values in widespread white matter regions. After controlling for global parameters, almost all of the differences between the two groups disappeared, except for higher CT in the medial orbital gyrus and parietal operculum in the AN group. Structural brain changes in AN are likely to be composed of both global and region-specific changes. The former changes are likely to have a dominant impact, while the latter changes might in part explain the disease-specific pathophysiology of AN.
European Psychiatry
Background. Brain atrophy in anorexia nervosa (AN) is one of the most marked structural brain changes observed in mental disorders. In this study, we propose a whole brain analysis approach to characterize global and regional cerebral volumes in adolescents with restricting-type anorexia nervosa (AN-r). Methods. A total of 48 adolescent females (age range 13–18 years) were enrolled in the study (24 right-handed AN-r in the early stages of the illness and treated in the same clinical setting and 24 age-matched healthy controls [HC]). High-resolution T1-weighted magnetic resonance images were acquired. Cerebral volumes, including the total amounts of gray matter (GM), white matter (WM), and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) were obtained with the Statistical Parametric Mapping software (SPM8); specific cortical regional volumes were computed by applying an atlas-based cortical parcellation to the SPM8 GM segments. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed to identify any significant between-...
Brain volumes and regional cortical thickness in young females with anorexia nervosa
BMC psychiatry, 2016
Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a severe mental illness, with an unknown etiology. Magnetic resonance imaging studies show reduced brain volumes and cortical thickness in patients compared to healthy controls. However, findings are inconsistent, especially concerning the anatomical location and extent of the differences. The purpose of this study was to estimate and compare brain volumes and regional cortical thickness in young females with AN and healthy controls. Magnetic resonance imaging data was acquired from young females with anorexia nervosa (n = 23) and healthy controls (n = 28). Two different scanner sites were used. BMI varied from 13.5 to 20.7 within the patient group, and 11 patients had a BMI > 17.5. FreeSurfer was used to estimate brain volumes and regional cortical thickness. There were no differences between groups in total cerebral cortex volume, white matter volume, or lateral ventricle volume. There were also no volume differences in subcortical grey matter structure...
Neuroimaging Findings in Adolescents and Young Adults with Anorexia Nervosa: A Systematic Review
2021
Background: Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a serious, multifactorial mental disorder affecting predominantly young females. This systematic review examines neuroimaging findings in adolescents and young adults up to 24 years old, in order to explore alterations associated with disease pathophysiology. Methods: Eligible studies on structural and functional brain neuroimaging were sought systematically in PubMed, CENTRAL and EMBASE databases up to 5 October 2020. Results: Thirty-three studies were included, investigating a total of 587 patients with a current diagnosis of AN and 663 healthy controls (HC). Global and regional grey matter (GM) volume reduction as well as white matter (WM) microstructure alterations were detected. The mainly affected regions were the prefrontal, parietal and temporal cortex, hippocampus, amygdala, insula, thalamus and cerebellum as well as various WM tracts such as corona radiata and superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF). Regarding functional imaging, alterat...
Normal gray matter volumes in women recovered from anorexia nervosa: a voxel-based morphometry study
BMC Psychiatry, 2016
Background: Anorexia nervosa (AN) has consistently been associated with reduced gray (GM) and white matter (WM) brain volumes. It is unclear whether GM alterations are present following recovery from AN, as previous findings are inconsistent. The aim of the present study was to determine if women recovered from AN exhibit reduced global or regional GM volumes. Methods: Global GM and WM, as well as regional GM volumes, were investigated in 22 women recovered from AN and 22 age-matched healthy controls using magnetic resonance imaging. Women were considered recovered if they had maintained a body mass index above 18.0 and had not engaged in binge eating, purging, or restrictive eating behaviors during the past year. Results: There were no significant differences between recovered AN women and healthy controls in terms of GM and WM volumes. There were also no significant differences between restricting and binging-purging AN subtypes. Lowest lifetime weight was positively correlated with regional GM volumes in the precuneus and insula. Conclusions: The present study showed that regional GM and global GM and WM volumes were similar for women long-term recovered from AN and age-matched healthy controls. Further research is needed to determine the extent to which illness severity affect regional GM volumes.
In vivo evidence of global and focal brain alterations in anorexia nervosa
2011
Brain alterations are known to be associated with anorexia nervosa (AN) and tend to be distributed across brain structures, with only a few reports describing focal damage. Magnetic resonance images of 21 anorexic patients with different disease duration and 27 control subjects were acquired and compared using voxelbased morphometry (VBM). Patients had a significant reduction of total white matter (WM) volume and focal gray matter (GM) atrophy in cerebellum, hypothalamus, caudate nucleus and frontal, parietal and temporal areas. The cerebellum was more affected in patients with longer disease duration, whereas the hypothalamic alterations were more pronounced in patients with shorter food restriction. A correlation with body mass index (BMI) and GM was found in the hypothalamus. Our data demonstrate a diffuse reduction of WM together with focal areas of GM atrophy in AN. The finding of a hypothalamic focal atrophy points to hormonal dysfunction and opens the possibility for a central dysregulation of homeostasis. The involvement of temporoparietal areas could account for body image distortion. Finally, the cerebellar GM atrophy confirms previous findings and seems to be a late consequence of AN that could play a role in the chronic phase of the disease.
Differences in regional grey matter volumes in currently ill patients with anorexia nervosa
The European journal of neuroscience, 2018
Neurobiological findings in anorexia nervosa (AN) are inconsistent, including differences in regional grey matter volumes. Methodological limitations often contribute to the inconsistencies reported. The aim of this study was to improve on these methodologies by utilising voxel-based morphometry (VBM) analysis with the use of diffeomorphic anatomic registration through an exponentiated lie algebra algorithm (DARTEL), in a relatively large group of individuals with AN. Twenty-six individuals with AN and 27 healthy controls underwent a T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan. AN participants were found to have reduced grey matter volumes in a number of areas including regions of the basal ganglia (including the ventral striatum), and parietal and temporal cortices. Body mass index (BMI) and global scores on the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q) were also found to correlate with grey matter volumes in a region of the brainstem (including the substantia nigra a...
A cross-sectional and follow-up voxel-based morphometric MRI study in adolescent anorexia nervosa
Journal of Psychiatric Research, 2009
The objective was to examine whether cerebral volumes are reduced, and in what regions, in adolescents with anorexia nervosa and to study changes after nutritional recovery. Twelve anorexia nervosa (DSM-IV) patients aged 11-17 consecutively admitted to an Eating Disorders Unit were assessed by means of psychopathological scales, neuropsychological battery and voxel-based morphometric (VBM) magnetic resonance imaging at admission and after 7 months' follow-up. Nine control subjects of similar age, gender and estimated intelligence level were also studied. The two groups showed differences in gray matter (F = 22.2; p < 0.001) and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) (F = 21.2; p < 0.001) but not in white matter volumes. In anorexic patients, gray matter volume correlated negatively with the copy time from the Rey Complex . In the regional VBM study several temporal and parietal gray matter regions were reduced. During follow-up there was a greater global increase in gray matter (F = 10.7; p = 0.004) and decrease in CSF (F = 22.1; p = 0.001) in anorexic patients. The increase in gray matter correlated with a decrease in cortisol (Spearman correlation = À0.73; p = 0.017). At follow-up there were no differences in global gray matter (F = 2.1; p = 0.165), white matter (F = 0.02, p = 0.965) or CSF (F = 1.8; p = 0.113) volumes between both groups. There were still some smaller areas, in the right temporal and both supplementary motor area, showing differences between them in the regional VBM study. In conclusion, in adolescent anorexic patients gray matter is more affected than white matter and mainly involves the posterior regions of the brain. Overall gray matter alterations are reversible after nutritional recovery.