Cerebral blood volume changes in patients with eating disorders during word fluency: a preliminary study using multi-channel near infrared spectroscopy

Abstract

ABSTRACT. OBJECTIVE: This study investigated the characteristics of cerebral oxygenation changes in eating disorders patients (ED) and normal controls during the cognitive tasks, using a highly time-resolved, and non-invasive instrument. METHOD: Eleven female patients with anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa were recruited, and 11 healthy females participated. The relative concentrations of oxy-hemoglobin [o-Hb] and deoxy-hemoglobin [d-Hb] were measured during word fluency task using multichannel near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). RESULTS: The increases of o-Hb and d-Hb during the task were compared between the groups. ED patients showed lower activation and a gradual increase in o-HB during the task. In the frontal, d-HB concentrations decreased during the task in ED patients

Social insecurity in relation to orbitofrontal activity in patients with eating disorders: a near-infrared spectroscopy study

“…This result suggests that the oxy-Hb concentration during LFT in the bilateral OFC tended to be lower in the ED group than in the CTL group. The result that oxy-Hb concentration during LFT in the bilateral OFC tended to be lower in the ED group than in the CTL group is consistent with our first hypothesis and previous reports [11-13]. …”

“…Previous NIRS reports that adopted a similar LFT protocol to our study showed that the ED group had lower frontal oxy-Hb concentration but showed almost exactly same performance on the LFT [11-13]. Nagamitsu et al [13] mentioned that the specific patterns of oxygenation changes might indicate less supply and less demand of cerebral blood volume.…”

“…LFT generally activates frontal brain areas [28], and has been used in the study of many psychiatric disorders, including ED [11-14]. Participants sat opposite a video monitor in a comfortable chair with their eyes open in a moderately lit room.…”

“…Patients with depression, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder have been studied using NIRS, and their characteristic time courses of oxy-Hb changes in the frontal lobe have been investigated [8-10]. Four NIRS studies in patients with ED have been conducted [11-14], three of which reported lower oxy-Hb concentrations in the frontal cortex during the letter fluency task (LFT) in patients with ED than in healthy CTLs [11-13]. However, the patient population and methodology varied across these studies.…”

“…However, the patient population and methodology varied across these studies. For example, Uehara et al (2007) did not evaluate the relevance of clinical symptoms [11], Suda et al (2010) excluded patients with body mass index (BMI) less than 14.5 kg/m 2 to exclude the effect of malnutrition [12], Nagamitsu et al (2011) studied children [13], and Sutoh et al (2013) studied patients with AN with relatively high BMI (mean ± SD, 17.0 ± 3.1 kg/m 2 ) [14]. …”