title: Brain correlates of alexithymia in eating disorders: A voxel-based morphometry study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Alexithymia is a personality trait that consists of difficulty in identifying and acknowledging one's own and others' feelings. Recent studies reported that alexithymia is present in both anorexia (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN). Brain morphological studies on healthy subjects showed that alexithymia correlates with several brain regions involved in emotions processing. The aim of this study was to investigate the anatomical correlates of alexithymia in AN and BN.
  
  
  METHODS
  We performed a voxel-based morphometry study on 21 patients with AN and 18 with BN. Seventeen healthy subjects were used as a control group. Alexithymia, depression and anxiety were assessed with self-administered questionnaires and correlated to gray matter (GM) density in each group.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In BN, alexithymia was correlated with the GM of the parietal lobe, in particular of the right angular gyrus. The correlation was predominantly linked with Difficulty Describing Feelings. In AN, we did not find correlations between GM and alexithymia.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In BN, our results support the hypothesis that this trait may represent a relevant pathogenic or maintenance factor that contributes to relational difficulties, present in this pathology. In AN, the lack of correlation between GM volume and alexithymia may be influenced by atrophy in several brain regions that in turn can be, as previously reported, a consequence of caloric restriction. Also, the nature of alexithymia may be different from that of BN and controls and this trait could be secondary to a psychopathologic process specific to AN.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.
authors.forename: Federico
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: D'Agata
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.|Besta Neurological Institute, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Paola
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Caroppo
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.
authors.forename: Federico
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Amianto
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Spalatro
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.
authors.forename: Marcella M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Caglio
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.|Radiology Section, AOU Città della Salute e della Scienza, Turin, Italy.
authors.forename: Mauro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bergui
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Texas Health Science Center (UTHealth), Houston, USA.
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lavagnino
authors.affiliation: Radiology Section, AOU Città della Salute e della Scienza, Turin, Italy.
authors.forename: Dorico
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Righi
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Abbate-Daga
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.
authors.forename: Lorenzo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pinessi
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mortara
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.
authors.forename: Secondo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fassino
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000342:Affective Symptoms / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology*; D000856:Anorexia Nervosa / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology*; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D052018:Bulimia Nervosa / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D066128:Gray Matter / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D059906:Neuroimaging; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000473:pathology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: alexithymia; anorexia nervosa; bulimia nervosa; eating disorders; voxel-based morphometry