title: Preserved white matter microstructure in young patients with anorexia nervosa?
abstract: A massive but reversible reduction of cortical thickness and subcortical gray matter (GM) volumes in Anorexia Nervosa (AN) has been recently reported. However, the literature on alterations in white matter (WM) volume and microstructure changes in both acutely underweight AN (acAN) and after recovery (recAN) is sparse and results are inconclusive. Here, T1-weighted and diffusion-weighted MRI data in a sizable sample of young and medication-free acAN (n = 35), recAN (n = 32), and age-matched female healthy controls (HC, n = 62) were obtained. For analysis, a well-validated global probabilistic tractography reconstruction algorithm including rigorous motion correction implemented in FreeSurfer: TRACULA (TRActs Constrained by UnderLying Anatomy) were used. Additionally, a clustering algorithm and a multivariate pattern classification technique to WM metrics to predict group membership were applied. No group differences in either WM volume or WM microstructure were detected with standard analysis procedures either in acAN or recAN relative to HC after controlling for the number of performed statistical tests. These findings were not affected by age, IQ, or psychiatric symptoms. While cluster analysis was unsuccessful at discriminating between groups, multivariate pattern classification showed some ability to separate acAN from HC (but not recAN from HC). However, these results were not compatible with a straightforward hypothesis of impaired WM microstructure. The current findings suggest that WM integrity is largely preserved in non-chronic AN. This finding stands in contrast to findings in GM, but may help to explain the relatively intact cognitive performance of young patients with AN and provide the basis for the fast recovery of GM structures. Hum Brain Mapp 37:4069-4083, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
authors.affiliation: Eating Disorders Research and Treatment Center at the Dept. of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany.|Department of Psychology, UiT the Arctic University of Norway & Department of Psychology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.
authors.forename: Gerit
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pfuhl
authors.affiliation: Eating Disorders Research and Treatment Center at the Dept. of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany.|Division of Psychological and Social Medicine and Developmental Neurosciences, Faculty of Medicine, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany.
authors.forename: Joseph A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: King
authors.affiliation: Eating Disorders Research and Treatment Center at the Dept. of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany.|Division of Psychological and Social Medicine and Developmental Neurosciences, Faculty of Medicine, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Geisler
authors.affiliation: Eating Disorders Research and Treatment Center at the Dept. of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany.
authors.forename: Benjamin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Roschinski
authors.affiliation: Eating Disorders Research and Treatment Center at the Dept. of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany.|Division of Psychological and Social Medicine and Developmental Neurosciences, Faculty of Medicine, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany.
authors.forename: Franziska
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ritschel
authors.affiliation: Eating Disorders Research and Treatment Center at the Dept. of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany.|Division of Psychological and Social Medicine and Developmental Neurosciences, Faculty of Medicine, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Seidel
authors.affiliation: Eating Disorders Research and Treatment Center at the Dept. of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany.|Division of Psychological and Social Medicine and Developmental Neurosciences, Faculty of Medicine, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany.
authors.forename: Fabio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bernardoni
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Neuroimaging Center, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany.
authors.forename: Dirk K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Müller
authors.affiliation: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry & Department of Radiology, Erasmus University Medical Centre, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Tonya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: White
authors.affiliation: Eating Disorders Research and Treatment Center at the Dept. of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany.
authors.forename: Veit
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Roessner
authors.affiliation: Eating Disorders Research and Treatment Center at the Dept. of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany. stefan.ehrlich@tu-dresden.De.|Division of Psychological and Social Medicine and Developmental Neurosciences, Faculty of Medicine, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany. stefan.ehrlich@tu-dresden.De.|MGH/MIT/HMS Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, Massachusetts. stefan.ehrlich@tu-dresden.De.|Harvard Medical School, Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts. stefan.ehrlich@tu-dresden.De.
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ehrlich
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000375:Aging / Q000473:pathology; D000465:Algorithms; D000856:Anorexia Nervosa / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001921:Brain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D002648:Child; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D056324:Diffusion Tensor Imaging; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods; D007360:Intelligence; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009929:Organ Size; D013851:Thinness / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D015430:Weight Gain; D066127:White Matter / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: anorexia nervosa; diffusion tensor imaging; fractional anisotropy; machine learning algorithm; tractography