Characterizing cerebral metabolite profiles in anorexia and bulimia nervosa and their associations with habitual behavior
View / Open Files
Authors
Westwater, Margaret
Diederen, Kelly
Carpenter, Adrian
Ziauddeen, HIsham
Publication Date
2022-03-15Journal Title
Translational Psychiatry
ISSN
2158-3188
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
Volume
12
Issue
1
Language
eng
Type
Article
This Version
VoR
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Westwater, M., Murley, A., Diederen, K., Carpenter, A., Ziauddeen, H., & Fletcher, P. (2022). Characterizing cerebral metabolite profiles in anorexia and bulimia nervosa and their associations with habitual behavior. Translational Psychiatry, 12 (1) https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-022-01872-7
Description
Funder: Cambridge Overseas Trust
Funder: Bernard Wolfe Health Neuroscience Fund
Funder: Holt Fellowship
Funder: NIH Oxford Cambridge Scholars Program
Abstract
Anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN) are associated with altered brain structure and function, as well as increased habitual behavior. This neurobehavioral profile may implicate neurochemical changes in the pathogenesis of these illnesses. Altered glutamate, myo-inositol and N-acetyl aspartate (NAA) concentrations are reported in restrictive AN, yet whether these extend to binge-eating disorders, or relate to habitual traits in affected individuals, remains unknown. We therefore used single-voxel proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy to measure glutamate, myo-inositol and NAA in the right inferior lateral prefrontal cortex and the right occipital cortex of 85 women [n=22 AN (binge-eating/purging subtype; AN-BP), n=33 BN, n=30 controls]. To index habitual behavior, participants performed an instrumental learning task and completed the Creature of Habit Scale. Women with AN-BP, but not BN, had reduced myo-inositol and NAA concentrations relative to controls in both regions. Although patient groups had intact instrumental learning task performance, both groups reported increased routine behaviors compared to controls, and automaticity was related to reduced prefrontal glutamate and NAA participants with AN-BP. Our findings extend previous reports of reduced myo-inositol and NAA levels in restrictive AN to AN-BP, which may reflect disrupted axonal-glial signaling. Although we found inconsistent support for increased habitual behavior in AN-BP and BN, we identified preliminary associations between prefrontal metabolites and automaticity in AN-BP. These results provide further evidence of unique neurobiological profiles across binge-eating disorders.
Keywords
Brain, Humans, Anorexia, Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia, Female, Bulimia Nervosa
Sponsorship
Bernard Wolfe Health Neuroscience Fund
Funder references
Wellcome Trust (206368/Z/17/Z)
Wellcome Trust (100574/B/12/Z)
National Institute for Health Research (IS-BRC-1215-20014)
Identifiers
35292626, PMC8924163
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-022-01872-7
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/336161
Statistics
Total file downloads (since January 2020). For more information on metrics see the
IRUS guide.
Recommended or similar items
The current recommendation prototype on the Apollo Repository will be turned off on 03 February 2023. Although the pilot has been fruitful for both parties, the service provider IKVA is focusing on horizon scanning products and so the recommender service can no longer be supported. We recognise the importance of recommender services in supporting research discovery and are evaluating offerings from other service providers. If you would like to offer feedback on this decision please contact us on: support@repository.cam.ac.uk