title: Brain gray and white matter differences in healthy normal weight and obese children.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare brain gray and white matter development in healthy normal weight and obese children.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-four healthy 8- to 10-year-old children whose body mass index was either <75(th) percentile (normal weight) or >95(th) percentile (obese) completed an MRI examination which included T1-weighted three-dimensional structural imaging and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Voxel-based morphometry was used to compare the regional gray and white matter between the normal weight and obese children, and tract-based spatial statistics was used to compare the water diffusion parameters in the white matter between groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Compared with normal weight children, obese children had significant (P < 0.05, family wise error corrected) regional gray matter reduction in the right middle temporal gyrus, left and right thalami, left superior parietal gyrus, left pre/postcentral gyri, and left cerebellum. Obese children also had higher white matter (P < 0.05, corrected) in multiple regions in the brain and higher DTI measured fractional anisotropy (FA) values (P < 0.05, corrected) in part of the left brain association and projection fibers. There was no difference in mean diffusivity at P < 0.05, corrected. DTI eigenvalues suggested that the FA differences were likely from decreased radial diffusivity (P < 0.1, corrected) and there was no change in axial diffusivity (corrected P > 0.35 for all voxels).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results indicated that obese but otherwise healthy children have different regional gray and white matter development in the brain and differences in white matter microstructures compared with healthy normal weight children.
authors: Arkansas Children's Nutrition Center, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA.|Arkansas Children's Hospital Research Institute, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA.|Department of Radiology, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA.|Department of Pediatrics, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA.
authors: Xiawei
authors: X
authors: Ou
authors: Arkansas Children's Nutrition Center, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA.|Arkansas Children's Hospital Research Institute, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA.|Department of Pediatrics, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA.
authors: Aline
authors: A
authors: Andres
authors: Arkansas Children's Nutrition Center, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA.|Arkansas Children's Hospital Research Institute, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA.|Department of Pediatrics, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA.
authors: R T
authors: RT
authors: Pivik
authors: Arkansas Children's Nutrition Center, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA.|Arkansas Children's Hospital Research Institute, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA.|Department of Pediatrics, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA.
authors: Mario A
authors: MA
authors: Cleves
authors: Arkansas Children's Nutrition Center, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA.|Arkansas Children's Hospital Research Institute, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA.|Department of Pediatrics, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA.
authors: Thomas M
authors: TM
authors: Badger
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D066128:Gray Matter / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D063766:Pediatric Obesity / Q000473:pathology*; D066127:White Matter / Q000473:pathology*
keywords: DTI; TBSS; VBM; children; obesity