Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
Obesity (Silver Spring). 2021 Jan;29(1):184-193. doi: 10.1002/oby.23042. Epub 2020 Dec 5.
Obesity risk transmits from parents to children. Underlying neural mechanisms were investigated in this study by evaluating influences of familial obesity risk defined by maternal obesity and influences of current overweight on three indices of brain structure in adolescents.
In total, 22 lean adolescents with lean mothers (lean low-risk), 25 lean adolescents with mothers with obesity/overweight (lean high-risk), and 36 adolescents with obesity/overweight underwent structural MRI scans for estimation of regional gray and white matter volume and cortical thickness.
The lean high-risk compared with the lean low-risk group demonstrated lower gray and white matter volume and cortical thickness in the postcentral gyrus (somatosensory cortex), lower gray and white matter volume in the opercular cortex (taste cortex), lower gray matter volume and cortical thickness in the anterior cingulate cortex, and lower cortical thickness in the precuneus. Comparisons of the lean and obesity/overweight groups revealed further structural alterations in the postcentral gyrus, posterior cingulate gyrus, and middle temporal gyrus.
Familial obesity risk and current obesity/overweight were associated with overlapping and distinct patterns of brain structure alterations. Longitudinal studies are warranted to investigate whether structural changes associated with familial obesity risk predict future weight trajectories.
肥胖风险会从父母传递给子女。本研究通过评估由母亲肥胖定义的家族肥胖风险以及当前超重对青少年 3 项脑结构指标的影响，研究了潜在的神经机制。
共有 22 名瘦的青少年（瘦低危组）和 25 名瘦的青少年（瘦高危组），他们的母亲肥胖/超重，以及 36 名肥胖/超重的青少年接受了结构磁共振成像扫描，以评估区域性灰质和白质体积以及皮质厚度。
与瘦低危组相比，瘦高危组的后中央回（躯体感觉皮层）的灰质和白质体积以及皮质厚度较低，脑岛盖部（味觉皮层）的灰质和白质体积较低，前扣带回的灰质体积和皮质厚度较低，楔前叶的皮质厚度较低。瘦组和肥胖/超重组的比较显示后中央回、后扣带回和中颞叶的结构改变进一步。
家族肥胖风险和当前肥胖/超重与重叠和不同的脑结构改变模式有关。需要进行纵向研究，以探讨与家族肥胖风险相关的结构变化是否可以预测未来的体重轨迹。
