Differential activation of the frontal pole to high vs low calorie foods: The neural basis of food preference in Anorexia Nervosa?

Jessica C Scaife,Lauren R Godier,Andrea Reinecke,Catherine J Harmer,Rebecca J Park

doi:10.1016/j.pscychresns.2016.10.004

Jessica C Scaife, Lauren R Godier + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pscychresns.2016.10.004

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Journal: Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging	Publication Date: Oct 18, 2016
Citations: 42	License type: cc-by

Affiliation: University of Oxford

Abstract

Neuroimaging studies in anorexia nervosa (AN) suggest that altered food reward processing may result from dysfunction in both limbic reward and cortical control centers of the brain. This fMRI study aimed to index the neural correlates of food reward in a subsample of individuals with restrictive AN: twelve currently ill, fourteen recovered individuals and sixteen healthy controls. Participants were shown pictures of high and low-calorie foods and asked to evaluate how much they wanted to eat each one following a four hour fast. Whole-brain task-activated analysis was followed by psychophysiological interaction analysis (PPI) of the amygdala and caudate. In the AN group, we observed a differential pattern of activation in the lateral frontal pole: increasing following presentation of high-calorie stimuli and decreasing in during presentation of low-calorie food pictures, the opposite of which was seen in the healthy control (HC) group. In addition, decreased activation to food pictures was observed in somatosensory regions in the AN group. PPI analyses suggested hypo-connectivity in reward pathways, and between the caudate and both somatosensory and visual processing regions in the AN group. No significant between-group differences were observed between the recovered group and the currently ill and healthy controls in the PPI analysis. Taken together, these findings further our understanding of the neural processes which may underpin the avoidance of high-calorie foods in those with AN and might exacerbate the development of compulsive weight-loss behavior, despite emaciation.

Highlights

Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a severely debilitating psychiatric disorder of unknown aetiology, characterised by the relentless pursuit of selfstarvation, leading to severe emaciation (American Psychiatric Association, 2013)
Forty-two female participants were recruited into three experimental groups: 12 individuals with a current DSM-IV (American Psychiatric Association, 2000) diagnosis of restrictive anorexia nervosa (AN group), 14 individuals recovered from restrictive AN (AN-R group), and 16 healthy controls (HC group) matched for age and IQ (Table 1)
Our findings suggest distinct functional differences in individuals with AN in response to high vs. low-calorie food pictures compared to healthy controls

Summary

Introduction

Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a severely debilitating psychiatric disorder of unknown aetiology, characterised by the relentless pursuit of selfstarvation, leading to severe emaciation (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). There is clear evidence of biological influences and significant heritability (Boraska et al, 2014; Bulik et al, 2006). It has a stereotypical presentation, predominantly in females and a narrow age range of onset (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). AN is characterised by a preoccupation with food stimuli (Cowdrey et al, 2013b; Park et al, 2011, 2012). An attentional bias for food stimuli is reported in AN, using behavioural tasks such as the Emotional Stroop Task, Visual Dot Probe tasks, and Startle Reflex paradigms (Aspen et al, 2013; Brooks et al, 2011b)

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