title: Aberrant network integrity of the inferior frontal cortex in women with anorexia nervosa.
abstract: Neuroimaging studies investigating the neural profile of anorexia nervosa (AN) have revealed a predominant imbalance between the reward and inhibition systems of the brain, which are also hallmark characteristics of the disorder. However, little is known whether these changes can also be determined independent of task condition, using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging, in currently ill AN patients. Therefore the aim of our study was to investigate resting-state connectivity in AN patients (n = 12) compared to healthy athlete (n = 12) and non-athlete (n = 14) controls. For this purpose, we used degree centrality to investigate functional connectivity of the whole-brain network and then Granger causality to analyze effective connectivity (EC), to understand directional aspects of potential alterations. We were able to show that the bilateral inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) is a region of special functional importance within the whole-brain network, in AN patients, revealing reduced functional connectivity compared to both healthy control groups. Furthermore, we found decreased EC from the right IFG to the midcingulum and increased EC from the bilateral orbitofrontal gyrus to the right IFG. For the left IFG, we only observed increased EC from the bilateral insula to the left IFG. These results suggest that AN patients have reduced connectivity within the cognitive control system of the brain and increased connectivity within regions important for salience processing. Due to its fundamental role in inhibitory behavior, including motor response, altered integrity of the inferior frontal cortex could contribute to hyperactivity in AN.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Diabetes Research and Metabolic Diseases of the Helmholtz Center Munich at the University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany ; German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD e.V.), Neuherberg, Germany ; Institute of Medical Psychology and Behavioral Neurobiology, Eberhard Karls University, Tübingen, Germany ; fMEG Center, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Stephanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kullmann
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Psychology and Behavioral Neurobiology, Eberhard Karls University, Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Katrin E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Giel
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Medical University Hospital, Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Teufel
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Medical University Hospital, Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Ansgar
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Thiel
authors.affiliation: Institute of Sport Science, University Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Stephan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zipfel
authors.affiliation: Institute for Diabetes Research and Metabolic Diseases of the Helmholtz Center Munich at the University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany ; German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD e.V.), Neuherberg, Germany ; Institute of Medical Psychology and Behavioral Neurobiology, Eberhard Karls University, Tübingen, Germany ; fMEG Center, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Hubert
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Preissl
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000856:Anorexia Nervosa / Q000473:pathology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000098:blood supply / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000098:blood supply / Q000473:pathology*; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D012146:Rest; D057566:Self Report; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D010100:Oxygen
keywords: Anorexia nervosa; Effective connectivity; Functional connectivity; Resting-state fMRI