Global Cortical Thinning in Acute Anorexia Nervosa Normalizes Following Long-Term Weight Restoration

King, Joseph A.; Geisler, Daniel; Ritschel, Franziska; Boehm, Ilka; Seidel, Maria; Roschinski, Benjamin; Soltwedel, Laura; Zwipp, Johannes; Pfuhl, Gerit; Marxen, Michael; Roessner, Veit; Ehrlich, Stefan

doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2014.09.005

Cited by 144 publications

(163 citation statements)

References 87 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

143

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The ongoing debate on state or trait characteristics of brain structure abnormalities in patients with AN was renewed by two recent studies. King et al [22] demonstrated in an acute phase of AN significantly reduced cortical thickness in large parts of the cerebral cortex, whereas in recovered patients with long-term weight restoration these cortical thickness differences were not found, indicating that cortical thickness reductions in AN might be dependent on the current symptomatic and might therefore reflect a state marker of the disease. In accordance with this study, our group recently showed that cortical thickness reduction in acute AN correlated with symptom severity of the disease.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Evidence for alterations of cortical folding in anorexia nervosa

Schultz

Wagner

Cruz

et al. 2015

Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Anorexia nervosa (AN) is highly heritable, and the perspective on the etiology of AN has changed from a behavioral to a neurobiological and neurodevelopmental view. However, cortical folding as an important marker for deviations in brain development has yet rarely been explored in AN. Hence, in order to determine potential cortical folding alterations, we investigated fine-grained cortical folding in a cohort of 26 patients with AN, of whom 6 patients were recovered regarding their weight at the time point of MRI measurement. MRI-derived cortical folding was computed and compared between patients and healthy controls at about 150,000 points per hemisphere using a surface-based technique (FreeSurfer). Patients with AN exhibited highly significant increased cortical folding in a right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex region (DLPFC). Furthermore, a statistical trend in the same direction was found in the right visual cortex. We did not find a correlation of local cortical folding and current symptoms of the disease. In conclusion, our analyses provide first evidence that altered DLPFC cortical folding plays a role in the etiology of AN. The absence of correlations with clinical parameters implicates a relatively independence of cortical folding alterations from the current symptomatology and might thus be regarded as a trait characteristic of the disease potentially related to other neurobiological features of AN.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Evidence for alterations of cortical folding in anorexia nervosa

Schultz

Wagner

Cruz

et al. 2015

Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Past studies often found widespread reduced gray matter and white matter volumes in anorexia nervosa (Van den Eynde et al, 2012). Such reduced brain volumes or cortical thickness typically recover with illness remission though, suggesting staterelated factors (King et al, 2015). Importantly, findings during the acute state could be effects of acute dehydration, starvation or excessive exercise (Streitburger et al, 2012), and controlling for those factors may help to identify brain structures that drive illness behavior.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Greater Insula White Matter Fiber Connectivity in Women Recovered from Anorexia Nervosa

Shott

Pryor

Yang

et al. 2015

Neuropsychopharmacol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Anorexia nervosa is a severe psychiatric disorder associated with reduced drive to eat. Altered taste-reward circuit white matter fiber organization in anorexia nervosa after recovery could indicate a biological marker that alters the normal motivation to eat. Women recovered from restricting-type anorexia (Recovered AN, n = 24, age = 30.3 ± 8.1 years) and healthy controls (n = 24, age = 27.4 ± 6.3 years) underwent diffusion weighted imaging of the brain. Probabilistic tractography analyses calculated brain white matter connectivity (streamlines) as an estimate of fiber connections in taste-reward-related white matter tracts, and microstructural integrity (fractional anisotropy, FA) was assessed using tract-based spatial statistics. Recovered AN showed significantly (range Po0.05-0.001, Bonferroni corrected) greater white matter connectivity between bilateral insula regions and ventral striatum, left insula and middle orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), and right insula projecting to gyrus rectus and medial OFC. Duration of illness predicted connectivity of tracts projecting from the insula to ventral striatum and OFC. Microstructural integrity was lower in Recovered AN in most insula white matter tracts, as was whole-brain FA in parts of the anterior corona radiata, external capsule, and cerebellum (Po0.05, family-wise errorcorrected). This study indicates higher structural white matter connectivity, an estimate of fibers connections, in anorexia after recovery in tracts that connect taste-reward processing regions. Greater connectivity together with less-fiber integrity could indicate altered neural activity between those regions, which could interfere with normal food-reward circuit function. Correlations between connectivity and illness duration suggest that connectivity could be a marker for illness severity. Whether greater connectivity can predict prognosis of the disorder requires further study.

show abstract

“…Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a serious disorder that is characterized not only by psychological, social and somatic factors (according to ICD-10 and DSM-IV-TR) but also by metabolic changes within the central nervous system [1,2], by structural alterations in brain volume and cortical thickness [3], and functional alterations targeting network connectivity [4]. The latter changes seem to be associated with core symptoms of AN and impaired performance in executive functions (EF) comprising flexibility, inhibition, visuospatial processing and working memory (WM) [4][5][6][7][8][9][10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cognitive Decline in Patients with Anorexia Nervosa: Which Cognitive Domains are Most Vulnerable and Need to be Considered?

Natalia¹,

Rost²,

Alain³

et al. 2017

Clin Exp Psychol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Objective: Besides physical complaints, patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) often suffer from cognitive problems. However, it is still a matter of debate whether a specific profile of cognitive disturbances underlies the disease, and if so, whether this profile contributes to the maintenance of the illness and also leads to the development of different subtypes of AN. The aim of the present study was to provide a more detailed knowledge on neuropsychological profiles in patients with AN using an extension of the Ravello Profile test-battery by working memory (WM) tests.Method: Twenty-nine AN patients and 20 healthy controls (HC) participated in the study. Neuropsychological performance was assessed by the Ravello Profile and WM tasks such as Digit Span and Corsi Blocks, 2-and 3-Back tasks, Symbol Digit Modalities Test, Paced Auditory Serial and Addition Task, as well as the Verbal Learning and Memory Test.Results: AN patients showed subtle cognitive problems on certain measures including WM performance. Compared to HC, the AN group showed significantly worse performance in verbal short-term and long-term memory, visuospatial WM, inhibition, and switching abilities, subserving successful self-regulation. Discussion:Our results speak in favour of relevance for WM decline in the context of AN. Therefore, tasks assessing visuospatial WM and information processing speed (IPS) should be added to existing test batteries such as the Ravello Profile.

show abstract

Global Cortical Thinning in Acute Anorexia Nervosa Normalizes Following Long-Term Weight Restoration

Abstract: Structural brain anomalies in AN as expressed in CT and subcortical volume are primarily the consequence of malnutrition and unlikely to reflect premorbid trait markers or permanent scars, but longitudinal data are needed.

Cited by 144 publications

References 87 publications

Evidence for alterations of cortical folding in anorexia nervosa

Evidence for alterations of cortical folding in anorexia nervosa

Greater Insula White Matter Fiber Connectivity in Women Recovered from Anorexia Nervosa

Cognitive Decline in Patients with Anorexia Nervosa: Which Cognitive Domains are Most Vulnerable and Need to be Considered?

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About