Evaluation of spontaneous regional brain activity in weight-recovered anorexia nervosa

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Abstract

Whereas research using structural magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI) reports sizable grey matter reductions in patients suffering from acute anorexia nervosa (AN) to be largely reversible already after short-term weight gain, many task-based and resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) studies suggest persistent brain alterations even after long-term weight rehabilitation. First investigations into spontaneous regional brain activity using voxel-wise resting-state measures found widespread abnormalities in acute AN, but no studies have compared intrinsic brain activity properties in weight-recovered individuals with a history of AN (recAN) with healthy controls (HCs). SMRI and RSFC data were analysed from a sample of 130 female volunteers: 65 recAN and 65 pairwise age-matched HC. Cortical grey matter thickness was assessed using FreeSurfer software. Fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (fALFFs), mean-square successive difference (MSSD), regional homogeneity (ReHo), voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity (VHMC), and degree centrality (DC) were calculated. SMRI and RSFC data were analysed from a sample of 130 female volunteers: 65 recAN and 65 pairwise age-matched HCs. Cortical grey matter thickness was assessed using FreeSurfer software. Fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (fALFF), mean-square successive difference (MSSD), regional homogeneity (ReHo), voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity (VHMC), and degree centrality (DC) were calculated. Abnormal regional homogeneity found in acute AN seems to normalize in recAN, supporting assumptions of a state rather than a trait marker. Aberrant fALFF values in the cerebellum and the infertior temporal gyrus could possibly hint towards trait factors or a scar (the latter, e.g., from prolonged periods of undernutrition), warranting further longitudinal research.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Article number395
JournalTranslational psychiatry
Volume10
Issue number1
Publication statusPublished - 11 Nov 2020
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

PubMedCentral PMC7658198
Scopus 85095815870
ORCID /0000-0002-2864-5578/work/142233463
ORCID /0000-0003-2132-4445/work/142236333
ORCID /0000-0002-5112-405X/work/142242678

Keywords

Keywords

  • Anorexia Nervosa/diagnostic imaging, Brain/diagnostic imaging, Brain Mapping, Female, Gray Matter/diagnostic imaging, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging