title: Evidence of gender differences in the ability to inhibit brain activation elicited by food stimulation.
abstract: Although impaired inhibitory control is linked to a broad spectrum of health problems, including obesity, the brain mechanism(s) underlying voluntary control of hunger are not well understood. We assessed the brain circuits involved in voluntary inhibition of hunger during food stimulation in 23 fasted men and women using PET and 2-deoxy-2[(18)F]fluoro-D-glucose ((18)FDG). In men, but not in women, food stimulation with inhibition significantly decreased activation in amygdala, hippocampus, insula, orbitofrontal cortex, and striatum, which are regions involved in emotional regulation, conditioning, and motivation. The suppressed activation of the orbitofrontal cortex with inhibition in men was associated with decreases in self-reports of hunger, which corroborates the involvement of this region in processing the conscious awareness of the drive to eat. This finding suggests a mechanism by which cognitive inhibition decreases the desire for food and implicates lower ability to suppress hunger in women as a contributing factor to gender differences in obesity.
authors.affiliation: Medical Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY, 11973, USA. gjwang@bnl.gov
authors.forename: Gene-Jack
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Nora D
authors.initials: ND
authors.lastname: Volkow
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Telang
authors.forename: Millard
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jayne
authors.forename: Yeming
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Kith
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Pradhan
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Christopher T
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.forename: Panayotis K
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Thanos
authors.forename: Allan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Geliebter
authors.forename: Anat
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Biegon
authors.forename: Joanna S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Fowler
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003071:Cognition; D005260:Female; D005502:Food; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010812:Physical Stimulation; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D013238:Stereotaxic Techniques; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires