title: Functional network centrality in obesity: A resting-state and task fMRI study.
abstract: Obesity is associated with structural and functional alterations in brain areas that are often functionally distinct and anatomically distant. This suggests that obesity is associated with differences in functional connectivity of regions distributed across the brain. However, studies addressing whole brain functional connectivity in obesity remain scarce. Here, we compared voxel-wise degree centrality and eigenvector centrality between participants with obesity (n=20) and normal-weight controls (n=21). We analyzed resting state and task-related fMRI data acquired from the same individuals. Relative to normal-weight controls, participants with obesity exhibited reduced degree centrality in the right middle frontal gyrus in the resting-state condition. During the task fMRI condition, obese participants exhibited less degree centrality in the left middle frontal gyrus and the lateral occipital cortex along with reduced eigenvector centrality in the lateral occipital cortex and occipital pole. Our results highlight the central role of the middle frontal gyrus in the pathophysiology of obesity, a structure involved in several brain circuits signaling attention, executive functions and motor functions. Additionally, our analysis suggests the existence of task-dependent reduced centrality in occipital areas; regions with a role in perceptual processes and that are profoundly modulated by attention.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychobiology, University of Barcelona, Passeig de la Vall d'Hebron, 171, 08035 Barcelona, Spain; Department of Neurology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Isabel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: García-García
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychobiology, University of Barcelona, Passeig de la Vall d'Hebron, 171, 08035 Barcelona, Spain; Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour (IR3C), University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain; Grup de Recerca Consolidat en Neuropsicologia (2014 SGR 98), Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address: majurado@ub.edu.
authors.forename: María Ángeles
authors.initials: MÁ
authors.lastname: Jurado
authors.affiliation: Grup de Recerca Consolidat en Neuropsicologia (2014 SGR 98), Barcelona, Spain; Neuropsychology Unit, Hospital de Terrassa, Consorci Sanitari de Terrassa, Terrassa, Spain.
authors.forename: Maite
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Garolera
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychobiology, University of Barcelona, Passeig de la Vall d'Hebron, 171, 08035 Barcelona, Spain; Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour (IR3C), University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Idoia
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Marqués-Iturria
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany; IFB Adiposity Diseases, Leipzig University Medical Center, Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Annette
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Horstmann
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychobiology, University of Barcelona, Passeig de la Vall d'Hebron, 171, 08035 Barcelona, Spain; Grup de Recerca Consolidat en Neuropsicologia (2014 SGR 98), Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Bàrbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Segura
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychobiology, University of Barcelona, Passeig de la Vall d'Hebron, 171, 08035 Barcelona, Spain; Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour (IR3C), University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain; Grup de Recerca Consolidat en Neuropsicologia (2014 SGR 98), Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Roser
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pueyo
authors.affiliation: CAP Terrassa Nord, Consorci Sanitari de Terrassa, Terrassa, Spain.
authors.forename: María José
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Sender-Palacios
authors.affiliation: CAP Terrassa Nord, Consorci Sanitari de Terrassa, Terrassa, Spain.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vernet-Vernet
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Arno
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Villringer
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychobiology, University of Barcelona, Passeig de la Vall d'Hebron, 171, 08035 Barcelona, Spain; Grup de Recerca Consolidat en Neuropsicologia (2014 SGR 98), Barcelona, Spain; Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Carme
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Junqué
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Research Group for Neuroanatomy and Connectivity, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Daniel S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Margulies
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany; IFB Adiposity Diseases, Leipzig University Medical Center, Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Jane
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Neumann
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000378:metabolism; D009765:Obesity / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000378:metabolism*; D009778:Occipital Lobe / Q000378:metabolism*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D012146:Rest / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Body-mass index; Brain; Functional connectivity; Graph analysis; fMRI