Translational Health Research Institute (THRI), School of Medicine, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, Sydney, NSW, 2751, Australia.
Department of Anatomy and Histology, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Eur J Neurosci. 2017 Oct;46(7):2297-2307. doi: 10.1111/ejn.13659. Epub 2017 Sep 18.
Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a mental health disorder of complex aetiology. Previous neuroimaging studies have found consistent global reductions in global grey matter volume of underweight girls with AN; however, differences in regional grey matter volumes are less consistent. The aims of this study were to investigate grey matter regional volumes of adolescent girls with AN before and after weight recovery and the relationship of any changes with clinical characteristics. We collected high-resolution T1-weighted images from 26 underweight girls with AN before weight gain and 20 healthy control volunteers. Clinical features were assessed using the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire. AN subjects displayed reduced grey matter volumes in the insula, amygdala, prefrontal, hippocampal and cingulate cortices and the precuneus, relative to healthy controls. In a subset of 10 AN subjects who were followed after weight recovery, grey matter volumes increased to near-control levels in the orbito- and medial prefrontal, insular, left hippocampal and mid- and posterior cingulate cortices and precuneus. The recovery of the right anterior thalamus and the left orbitofrontal cortex was correlated with improvements in eating concerns and shape concerns, respectively. However, large parts of the anterior cingulate cortex, caudate nuclei and right hippocampus did not display any grey matter recovery following a short-term of treatment. These results show that in adolescents with AN, some brain regions display marked recovery in grey matter volume following weight recovery, whereas others do not, considering grey mater recovery possibly linked to symptom improvement.
神经性厌食症（AN）是一种病因复杂的心理健康障碍。先前的神经影像学研究发现，患有 AN 的体重不足女孩的全脑灰质体积普遍减少；然而，灰质体积的区域差异则不太一致。本研究的目的是探讨 AN 青少年在体重恢复前后的灰质区域体积以及任何变化与临床特征的关系。我们从 26 名体重不足的 AN 女孩和 20 名健康对照组志愿者中收集了高分辨率 T1 加权图像。使用饮食失调检查问卷评估临床特征。与健康对照组相比，AN 患者的岛叶、杏仁核、前额叶、海马和扣带回皮质以及楔前叶的灰质体积减少。在体重恢复后的 10 名 AN 患者亚组中，眶额和内侧前额叶、岛叶、左海马和中后扣带回皮质以及楔前叶的灰质体积增加到接近对照组的水平。右侧前丘脑和左侧眶额皮质的恢复与饮食问题和体型问题的改善分别相关。然而，在短期治疗后，前扣带皮质、尾状核和右侧海马的大部分区域没有显示任何灰质恢复。这些结果表明，在患有 AN 的青少年中，一些脑区在体重恢复后灰质体积有明显的恢复，而其他脑区则没有，考虑到灰质的恢复可能与症状的改善有关。
