Setsu Rikukage, Hirano Yoshiyuki, Tokunaga Miki, Takahashi Toru, Numata Noriko, Matsumoto Koji, Masuda Yoshitada, Matsuzawa Daisuke, Iyo Masaomi, Shimizu Eiji, Nakazato Michiko
Department of Cognitive Behavioral Physiology, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan.
Research Center for Child Mental Development, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan.
Front Psychiatry. 2017 Sep 25;8:172. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2017.00172. eCollection 2017.
The aim of this study was to examine differences in brain neural activation in response to monosodium glutamate (MSG), the representative component of umami, between patients with bulimia nervosa (BN) and healthy women (HW) controls. We analyzed brain activity after ingestion of an MSG solution using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in a group of women with BN ( = 18) and a group of HW participants ( = 18). Both groups also provided a subjective assessment of the MSG solution a numerical rating scale. The BN group subjectively rated the MSG solution lower in pleasantness and liking than the control group, although no difference in subjective intensity was noted. The fMRI results demonstrated greater activation of the right insula in the BN group versus the control group. Compared with the HW controls, the BN patients demonstrated both altered taste perception-related brain activity and more negative hedonic scores in response to MSG stimuli. Different hedonic evaluation, expressed as the relative low pleasing taste of umami tastant and associated with altered insula function, may explain disturbed eating behaviors, including the imbalance in food choices, in BN patients.
本研究的目的是探讨神经性贪食症（BN）患者与健康女性（HW）对照组在对鲜味的代表性成分谷氨酸钠（MSG）做出反应时大脑神经激活的差异。我们使用功能磁共振成像（fMRI）分析了一组BN女性患者（n = 18）和一组HW参与者（n = 18）摄入MSG溶液后的大脑活动。两组还对MSG溶液进行了主观评估——采用数字评分量表。BN组对MSG溶液的愉悦度和喜爱度主观评分低于对照组，尽管在主观强度上未发现差异。fMRI结果显示，与对照组相比，BN组右侧脑岛的激活程度更高。与HW对照组相比，BN患者在对MSG刺激做出反应时，味觉感知相关的大脑活动发生了改变，享乐评分也更消极。不同的享乐评价，表现为鲜味剂相对较低的愉悦味道，并与脑岛功能改变有关，这可能解释了BN患者饮食行为紊乱，包括食物选择失衡的原因。
