Abstract
Previous Resting-State Functional Connectivity (RSFC) studies have shown several functional alterations in adults with or recovered from long Anorexia Nervosa (AN). The aim of this paper was to investigate whole brain RSFC in adolescents with AN in the earliest stages, less than 6 months, of the disorder. Sixteen drug-naïve outpatient female adolescents with AN-restrictive type (AN-r) (mean age: 15,8; SD 1,7) were compared to 16 age-matched healthy female (mean age: 16,3; SD 1,4). Relevant resting state networks (RSNs) were identified using independent component analysis (ICA) from functional magnetic resonance imaging data; a dual regression technique was used to detect between-group differences in the RSNs. Between-group differences of the functional connectivity maps were found in the executive control network (ECN). Particularly, decreased temporal correlation was observed in AN-r patients relative to healthy controls between the ECN functional connectivity maps and the anterior cingulate cortex (p < 0.05 corrected). Our results in AN adolescents may represent an early trait-related biomarker of the disease. Considering that the above mentioned network and its area are mainly involved in cognitive control and emotional processing, our findings could explain the impaired cognitive flexibility in relation to body image and appetite in AN patients.
Highlights
In the last decade, new functional and structural neuroimaging techniques were used to explore brain abnormalities in Anorexia nervosa (AN) patients, trying to define the pathophysiology of AN
Using degree centrality to investigate functional connectivity of the whole-brain network and Granger causality to analyze effective connectivity, a reduced functional connectivity of the inferior frontal gyrus bilaterally and altered effective connectivity were found in women with AN compared to controls[28]
Our primary finding is that resting state functional connectivity (RSFC) between Executive Control Network (ECN) and the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is decreased in AN-restrictive type (AN-r) adolescents compared to controls
Summary
New functional and structural neuroimaging techniques were used to explore brain abnormalities in AN patients, trying to define the pathophysiology of AN. The first study that investigated RSFC in AN patients was conducted by Cowdrey and colleagues[22] They studied a sample of adult recovered AN women, working on whole brain data driven analyses, and found increased RSFC between the default-mode network and the precuneus and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex/inferior frontal gyrus in recovered AN patients compared to controls. McFadden et al.[24] showed reduced salience network activity in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and reduced default mode network activity in the precuneus of AN patients as compared to controls They found reduced activity of the sensory-motor network activity in the supplementary motor area and post-central gyrus of AN patients vs controls and vs recovered AN women. We tested the relationship between resting state brain activity and a priori selected clinical variables related to main symptoms of AN (drive for thinness, body dissatisfaction, interoceptive awareness, perfectionism, bulimia, depression, trait anxiety, harm avoidance and body mass index)
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