MRI scans reveal why young women are at higher risk for eating disorders

MRI scans reveal why young women are at higher risk for eating disorders

Breakthroughs! MRI scanreveal hidden hypothalamic changes in young women, shedding light on the biological roots of anorexia and obesity and paving the way for targeted treatments.

A recent editorial feature published in theAmerican Journal of Clinical Nutrition Discusses the use of a novel imaging technique to examine how specific structural features of the hypothalamus influence eating behavior.

A new approach to studying the hypothalamus

Women are more likely to develop eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa than men, especially during puberty. Despite this disproportionate presence, few studies have examined the role of the female brain in neuroscience and psychiatry.

The hypothalamus is a small, heterogeneous brain structure in the diencephalon that regulates homeostatic and hedonic functions involved in feeding behavior. Current imaging techniques are limited in their ability to capture subsegmentation of nuclei within the hypothalamus. As a result, most studies examining the role of the hypothalamus have been conducted in rodents.

Using precision imaging to study the neurobiological roots of eating disorders provides a critical avenue for progress. “

In a previous study published in theJournal of Clinical Medicine,Researchers identified microstructural changes in the hypothalamus of young adult women with anorexia nervosa and obesity. For this purpose, a highly sensitive ultra-high resolutionT1 Quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is required to overcome the limitations associated with traditional imaging modalities that are unable to visualize the human hypothalamus.

Herein, the hypothalamus of forty-four young women was imaged, of whom twenty-one were of normal weight, thirteen diagnosed with restrictive anorexia nervosa, and ten developed obesity. Adequate age adjustment controls removed potential age-related biases.

Volume and quantitativeT1 Values ​​of individual hypothalamic nuclei, which served as proxy markers of cell integrity, were compared using nonparametric tests after whole-brain normalization. A multivariate nonlinear partial least quadral analysis (NIPALS) was performed to identify the factors associated with body mass index (BMI) and eating disorders such as ghrelin and leptin levels, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) parameters of hypothalamic nuclei, depression and anxiety.

In this multidisciplinary strategy, 7T MRI data from hypothalamic subregions were bridged with measures of eating behavior, anxiety, mood, and peripheral hunger and satiety-related hormone levels.

Study results

Volumetric data and quantitative T1 measurements from 50 different hypothalamic brain regions were obtained. Patients living with anorexia nervosa and, to a lesser extent, had characteristic differences in the hypothalamic para- and periventricular nuclei and in the connection of fiber tracts compared to patients with normal weight.

Both paraventricular and periventricular nuclei have been found to play critical roles in feeding behavior, indicating that any microstructural changes in these regions may contribute to the pathophysiology of eating disorders.

The volume reductions are typically associated with atrophy in aging or neurodegenerative diseases. Comparatively, increased brain volumes in younger populations correlate with swelling or inflammation in neuronal tissues. The researchers reported that larger hypothalamic subregions in women may contribute to eating disorders.

The current study also suggested potential underlying mechanisms by which younger women are at increased risk of developing eating disorders. Mechanistically, the larger hypothalamic subregions that may arise due to inflammatory processes could cause imbalances in food consumption and eating disorders in women.

In women with high body mass index (BMI) values ​​and anorexia, which were associated with eating disorder severity, in women with high body mass index (BMI), which were associated with eating disorder severity.

Conclusions and future prospects

The novel neuroimaging technique discussed in this study allowed researchers to identify specific changes in hypothalamic regions in young adult women that contributed to their eating disorders. Specifically, glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists have been found to target the arcuate subnucleus of the hypothalamus and improve unhealthy eating behaviors.

Longitudinal studies should be conducted in the future to understand whether modifications in hypothalamic subregional size and quantitative T1 precede symptom onset. Follow-up analysis of structural and functional connectivity in hypothalamic subregions may also elucidate the neural processes in extended limbic and cortical networks in patients with eating disorders.

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