title: Frontal cortical thinning and subcortical volume reductions in early adulthood obesity.
abstract: Obesity depends on homeostatic and hedonic food intake behavior, mediated by brain plasticity changes in cortical and subcortical structures. The aim of this study was to investigate cortical thickness and subcortical volumes of regions related to food intake behavior in a healthy young adult sample with obesity. Thirty-seven volunteers, 19 with obesity (age=33.7±5.7 (20-39) years body-mass index (BMI)=36.08±5.92 (30.10-49.69)kg/m(2)) and 18 controls (age=32.3±5.9 (21-40) years; BMI=22.54±1.94 (19.53-24.97)kg/m(2)) participated in the study. Patients with neuropsychiatric or biomedical disorders were excluded. We used FreeSurfer software to analyze structural magnetic resonance images (MRI) and obtain global brain measures, cortical thickness and subcortical volume estimations. Finally, correlation analyses were performed for brain structure data and obesity measures. There were no between-group differences in age, gender, intelligence or education. Results showed cortical thickness reductions in obesity in the left superior frontal and right medial orbitofrontal cortex. In addition, the obesity group had lower ventral diencephalon and brainstem volumes than controls, while there were no differences in any other subcortical structure. There were no statistically significant correlations between brain structure and obesity measures. Overall, our work provides evidence of the structural brain characteristics associated with metabolically normal obesity. We found reductions in cortical thickness, ventral diencephalon and brainstem volumes in areas that have been implicated in food intake behavior.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychobiology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain; Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior (IR3C), Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Idoia
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Marqués-Iturria
authors.forename: Roser
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pueyo
authors.forename: Maite
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Garolera
authors.forename: Bàrbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Segura
authors.forename: Carme
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Junqué
authors.forename: Isabel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: García-García
authors.forename: María
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: José Sender-Palacios
authors.forename: María
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vernet-Vernet
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Narberhaus
authors.forename: Mar
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ariza
authors.forename: María Ángeles
authors.initials: MÁ
authors.lastname: Jurado
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000473:pathology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Cortical thickness; Frontal lobe; Hypothalamus; Inhibition; Obesity