title: Brain responses to food images during the early and late follicular phase of the menstrual cycle in healthy young women: relation to fasting and feeding.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Food intake fluctuates throughout the menstrual cycle; it is greater during the early follicular and luteal phases than in the late follicular (periovulatory) phase. Ovarian steroids can influence brain areas that process food-related information, but the specific contribution of individual hormones and the importance of the prandial state remain unknown.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The objective was to examine whether brain activation during food visualization is affected by changes in estradiol concentration in the fasted and fed conditions.
  
  
  METHODS
  Nine eumenorrheic, lean young women [mean (±SD) age: 26.2 ± 3.2 y; body mass index (in kg/m(2)): 22.4 ± 1.2] completed 2 visits, one in the early (low estradiol) and one in the late (high estradiol) follicular phase of their menstrual cycle. At each visit, subjects underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while they viewed food and nonfood images, before and after a standardized meal. Region-of-interest analysis was used to examine the effect of follicular phase and prandial state on brain activation (food > nonfood contrast) and its association with estradiol concentration.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Differences were identified in the inferior frontal and fusiform gyri. In these areas, visualization of food elicited greater activation in the fed state than during fasting but only in the late follicular phase, when estradiol concentration was high. The change in estradiol concentration across the follicular phase (late minus early) was inversely correlated with the change in fusiform gyrus activation in the fasted state but not in the fed state.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings suggest that estradiol may reduce food intake by decreasing sensitivity to food cues in the ventral visual pathway under conditions of energy deprivation. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT00130117.
authors: Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02215, USA. malonso@bidmc.harvard.edu
authors: Miguel
authors: M
authors: Alonso-Alonso
authors: Florencia
authors: F
authors: Ziemke
authors: Faidon
authors: F
authors: Magkos
authors: Fernando A
authors: FA
authors: Barrios
authors: Mary
authors: M
authors: Brinkoetter
authors: Ingrid
authors: I
authors: Boyd
authors: Anne
authors: A
authors: Rifkin-Graboi
authors: Mary
authors: M
authors: Yannakoulia
authors: Rafael
authors: R
authors: Rojas
authors: Alvaro
authors: A
authors: Pascual-Leone
authors: Christos S
authors: CS
authors: Mantzoros
references: Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2010 Jan;35(1):47-55
references: 19758762
references: J Cereb Blood Flow Metab. 2001 May;21(5):592-607
references: 11333370
references: Endocr Rev. 1999 Jun;20(3):279-307
references: 10368772
references: Am J Clin Nutr. 2002 Jun;75(6):1017-22
references: 12036808
references: Cereb Cortex. 2006 Dec;16(12):1679-89
references: 16436686
references: Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2007 May 29;362(1481):917-32
references: 17412678
references: J Neurosci. 1997 Jun 1;17(11):4302-11
references: 9151747
references: Brain Res Cogn Brain Res. 2003 Jun;17(1):75-82
references: 12763194
references: Physiol Behav. 2009 Jul 14;97(5):572-80
references: 19419661
references: Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2007 Dec;1121:273-96
references: 17846154
references: Neuroimage. 2006 Aug 1;32(1):457-64
references: 16644236
references: J Psychosom Res. 1985;29(1):71-83
references: 3981480
references: J Neurosci. 2008 Dec 10;28(50):13401-10
references: 19074013
references: J Neurosci. 2003 May 1;23(9):3790-5
references: 12736349
references: Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2008 Nov;33(10):1419-25
references: 18977091
references: Neuroimage. 2007 Apr 1;35(2):511-7
references: 17317222
references: Neuroimage. 2008 Apr 1;40(2):409-414
references: 18191585
references: Int J Obes (Lond). 2007 Dec;31(12):1777-85
references: 17684511
references: Behav Neurosci. 2001 Apr;115(2):493-500
references: 11345973
references: Int J Obes (Lond). 2011 Feb;35(2):198-207
references: 20548307
references: Magn Reson Med. 1995 May;33(5):636-47
references: 7596267
references: Nat Neurosci. 2006 Jul;9(7):971-8
references: 16767087
references: Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2009 Dec;4(4):423-8
references: 20035017
references: Hum Reprod Update. 2010 May-Jun;16(3):276-92
references: 19926661
references: Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2006 Jul 29;361(1471):1251-63
references: 16815802
references: Hum Brain Mapp. 2010 Jul;31(7):1052-64
references: 19998366
references: Brain Res. 2010 Sep 2;1350:159-66
references: 20423700
references: J Neurosci. 2010 Jan 13;30(2):431-8
references: 20071507
references: Biol Psychiatry. 2005 Jun 1;57(11):1285-92
references: 15950000
references: Neuroimage. 2003 Jul;19(3):1233-9
references: 12880848
references: Endocrinology. 1994 Jun;134(6):2367-70
references: 8194462
references: Psychiatry Res. 2010 May 30;182(2):160-4
references: 20409694
references: Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2011 Oct;6(5):612-20
references: 20817665
references: J Comp Neurol. 1997 Dec 1;388(4):507-25
references: 9388012
references: J Neurosci. 2000 Jan 15;20(2):878-86
references: 10632617
references: J Cogn Neurosci. 2003 May 15;15(4):600-9
references: 12803970
references: Peptides. 2004 Apr;25(4):667-74
references: 15165723
references: Brain Res. 2010 Aug 12;1348:55-62
references: 20550945
references: Hum Reprod. 1997 Jun;12(6):1142-51
references: 9221991
references: Brain Res. 2010 Dec 2;1363:81-92
references: 20920491
references: Endocrinology. 2010 Dec;151(12):5680-8
references: 21068154
references: Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2002 Jun;967:389-97
references: 12079866
references: Behav Brain Res. 2009 Mar 2;198(1):149-58
references: 19028527
references: Cereb Cortex. 2007 Oct;17(10):2400-6
references: 17190969
references: Physiol Behav. 2010 Feb 9;99(2):175-80
references: 19555704
references: Brain. 2001 Sep;124(Pt 9):1720-33
references: 11522575
references: Physiol Behav. 2004 Aug;82(1):35-41
references: 15234587
references: Endocrinology. 1996 Oct;137(10):4372-83
references: 8828498
references: Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2011 Jun;36(5):737-41
references: 21074333
references: Neuropsychologia. 2007 Jan 7;45(1):174-94
references: 16854439
references: Annu Rev Psychol. 2008;59:55-92
references: 18154499
references: Neuroimage. 2011 Mar 1;55(1):296-303
references: 21111829
references: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2007 Feb 13;104(7):2465-70
references: 17267613
references: Neuroimage. 2006 Jul 15;31(4):1419-25
references: 16545583