Brain volumes and regional cortical thickness in young females with anorexia nervosa

BMC Psychiatry

Research Article

Tor Endestad¹  Eva Hilland¹  Christian Krog Tamnes¹  Nils Inge Landrø¹  Tone Seim Fuglset²  Lasse Bang²  Øyvind Rø³ 

[1] Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway;Regional Department for Eating Disorders, Division of Mental Health and Addiction, Oslo University Hospital, Ullevål, Oslo, Norway;Regional Department for Eating Disorders, Division of Mental Health and Addiction, Oslo University Hospital, Ullevål, Oslo, Norway;Institute of Clinical Medicine, Division of Mental Health and Addiction, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway;

关键词: Anorexia nervosa;    Neuroimaging;    Brain volumes;    Cortical thickness;    MRI;    Adolescence;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12888-016-1126-9

 received in 2016-04-06, accepted in 2016-11-11,  发布年份 2016

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundAnorexia nervosa (AN) is a severe mental illness, with an unknown etiology. Magnetic resonance imaging studies show reduced brain volumes and cortical thickness in patients compared to healthy controls. However, findings are inconsistent, especially concerning the anatomical location and extent of the differences. The purpose of this study was to estimate and compare brain volumes and regional cortical thickness in young females with AN and healthy controls.MethodsMagnetic resonance imaging data was acquired from young females with anorexia nervosa (n = 23) and healthy controls (n = 28). Two different scanner sites were used. BMI varied from 13.5 to 20.7 within the patient group, and 11 patients had a BMI > 17.5. FreeSurfer was used to estimate brain volumes and regional cortical thickness.ResultsThere were no differences between groups in total cerebral cortex volume, white matter volume, or lateral ventricle volume. There were also no volume differences in subcortical grey matter structures. However the results showed reduced cortical thickness bilaterally in the superior parietal gyrus, and in the right inferior parietal and superior frontal gyri.ConclusionsThe functional significance of the findings is undetermined as the majority of the included patients was already partially weight-restored. We discuss whether these regions could be related to predisposing factors of the illness, or whether they are regions that are more vulnerable to starvation, malnutrition or associated processes in AN.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s). 2016