title: Altered frontal inter-hemispheric resting state functional connectivity is associated with bulimic symptoms among restrained eaters.
abstract: Theory and research have indicated that restrained eating (RE) increases risk for binge-eating and eating disorder symptoms. According to the goal conflict model, such risk may result from disrupted hedonic-feeding control and its interaction with reward-driven eating. However, RE-related alterations in functional interactions among associated underlying brain regions, especially between the cerebral hemispheres, have rarely been examined directly. Therefore, we investigated inter-hemispheric resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) among female restrained eaters (REs) (n=23) and unrestrained eaters (UREs) (n=24) following food deprivation as well as its relation to overall bulimia nervosa (BN) symptoms using voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity (VMHC). Seed-based RSFC associated with areas exhibiting significant VMHC differences was also assessed. Compared to UREs, REs showed reduced VMHC in the dorsal-lateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), an area involved in inhibiting hedonic overeating. REs also displayed decreased RSFC between the right DLPFC and regions associated with reward estimation--the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC) and posterior cingulate cortex (PCC). Finally, bulimic tendencies had a negative correlation with VMHC in the DLPFC and a positive correlation with functional connectivity (DLPFC and VMPFC) among REs but not UREs. Findings suggested that reduced inter-hemispheric functional connectivity in appetite inhibition regions and altered functional connectivity in reward related regions may help to explain why some REs fail to control hedonically-motivated feeding and experience higher associated levels of BN symptomatology.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (Ministry of Education), Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China; School of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China. Electronic address: chenshuaiyu3@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Shuaiyu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (Ministry of Education), Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China; School of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China. Electronic address: debo.dong@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Debo
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (Ministry of Education), Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China; School of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China. Electronic address: toddjackson@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Todd
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Jackson
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (Ministry of Education), Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China; School of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China. Electronic address: huatian@swu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Yanhua
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Su
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (Ministry of Education), Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China; School of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China. Electronic address: chenhg@swu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D015992:Body Mass Index; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002032:Bulimia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D054022:Cerebrum; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005508:Food Deprivation / Q000502:physiology; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000098:blood supply / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012146:Rest; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D010100:Oxygen
keywords: Bulimia nervosa symptoms; Inhibitory control; Resting-state fMRI; Restrained eating; Reward; VMHC