Functional and structural characterization of Human hypothalamic nuclei in eating disorders
Poster No:
1344
Submission Type:
Abstract Submission
Authors:
Coleen Roger1,2,3, Adèle Lasbleiz4,1, Maxime Guye1,2, Anezka Kovarova5,1, Hugo Dary2,1, Yu Fu6, Patrick Cozzone2, Anne Dutour4, Bénédicte Gaborit4, Jean-Philippe Ranjeva1,2
Institutions:
1CEMEREM, MARSEILLE, France, 2CNRS, MARSEILLE, France, 3IMCB, Astar, Singapore, Singapore, 4AP-HM, MARSEILLE, France, 5Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic, 6Astar, Singapore, singapore
First Author:
Co-Author(s):
Introduction:
Energy expenditure appears as a continuous process, while energy refilling through food intake is by nature discontinuous. To keep the body fat mass stable, a system in which the hypothalamus (HT) is one of the key structures provides efficient balance between energy expenditure and energy intake. However, non-invasive exploration of such a small structure in the context of food intake networks remains challenging in humans.
Methods:
We used ultra-high field (7T) MRI to study morphometry and activation pattern of hypothalamic nuclei associated to food-cue paradigm in eating disorders and healthy controls. The activation task performed after a 15h fasting period consisted in showing high-calorie and low-calorie content food as well non-food images from a standardized database (1), and images related to food contexts, to 13 HC (18,5<BMI <25 kg/m2), as well as 8 diagnosed Obese and 7 diagnosed Anorexic patients (all female, 26+4 years). After the experiment, each participants were asked to rate (score=[0-3]) how appealing the food images they just saw were (palatability score).
The Neudorfer Atlas (2) registered to the average spatially normalized T1 volumes from all subjects (AntsRegistration SyN) (Fig 1A), was used to locate activation clusters as well as evaluate the modulation of morphometry/microstructure of HT nuclei in Anorexic patients or Obese patients and its potential association with BMI.
The Neudorfer Atlas (2) registered to the average spatially normalized T1 volumes from all subjects (AntsRegistration SyN) (Fig 1A), was used to locate activation clusters as well as evaluate the modulation of morphometry/microstructure of HT nuclei in Anorexic patients or Obese patients and its potential association with BMI.
Results:
Structurally, no significant difference between groups were observed in the global HT volumes (normalized by whole brain volume (WBV)), with only a trend increase of HT volumes in the Obese group (p=0.15) (Fig 1B).
Obese patients relative to Controls, showed significant volume increases in the right and the left fornix (Fig 1B), as well as increase in T1 values in the right and the left Arcuate Nuclei (Fig 1C), (p<0.05, Kruskall-Wallis tests, corrected for multiple comparisons).
Anorexic patients relative to Controls, showed increased T1 values in the left Paraventricular nucleus (p<0.05, corrected for MC) (Fig 1C).
BMI scores of the whole cohort were associated to the volume of the Left Lateral HT Area (rho=0.502, p=0.007) (Fig 1D).
The Food-NonFood contrast (modulated by palatability score) showed significant activation in Controls within the Right Arcuate Nucleus, the Right Ventromedial Nucleus and the Left Paraventricular nucleus (Fig 2A). Relative to Controls, Anorexic patients showed less activation within the left Paraventricular nucleus (Fig 2A).
The Context-NonFood contrast (modulated by palatability score) showed in Controls, activation of the left Paraventricular nucleus (Fig 2B). Relative to Controls, Anorexic patients showed higher activation in the right Lateral HT Area, the Right Paraventricular nucleus, the right Periventricular nucleus and bilateral Posterior HT nucleus (Fig 2B) while Obese patients showed higher activation in the right Paraventricular nucleus, right medial preoptic nucleus, and the right posterior HT nucleus (Fig 2B).
Obese patients relative to Controls, showed significant volume increases in the right and the left fornix (Fig 1B), as well as increase in T1 values in the right and the left Arcuate Nuclei (Fig 1C), (p<0.05, Kruskall-Wallis tests, corrected for multiple comparisons).
Anorexic patients relative to Controls, showed increased T1 values in the left Paraventricular nucleus (p<0.05, corrected for MC) (Fig 1C).
BMI scores of the whole cohort were associated to the volume of the Left Lateral HT Area (rho=0.502, p=0.007) (Fig 1D).
The Food-NonFood contrast (modulated by palatability score) showed significant activation in Controls within the Right Arcuate Nucleus, the Right Ventromedial Nucleus and the Left Paraventricular nucleus (Fig 2A). Relative to Controls, Anorexic patients showed less activation within the left Paraventricular nucleus (Fig 2A).
The Context-NonFood contrast (modulated by palatability score) showed in Controls, activation of the left Paraventricular nucleus (Fig 2B). Relative to Controls, Anorexic patients showed higher activation in the right Lateral HT Area, the Right Paraventricular nucleus, the right Periventricular nucleus and bilateral Posterior HT nucleus (Fig 2B) while Obese patients showed higher activation in the right Paraventricular nucleus, right medial preoptic nucleus, and the right posterior HT nucleus (Fig 2B).
Conclusions:
In a cohort of 28 subjects carefully selected according to age, sex, and condition (15h fasting), high resolution quantitative T1 MRI at 7T was sensitive enough to show morpho-structural changes of specific HT nuclei in Obesity and Anorexia in line with results obtained in large cohorts (>1000 participants) explored at 3T (3). The significant increase in T1 in bilateral arcuate nuclei in the Obese group may reflect HT inflammation of this region (4).
During food cue stimuli, altered activation of HT nuclei involved in food networks were observed in Anorexic and Obese groups. Finally, higher activation of the right Lateral HT Area in the Anorexic group during the context condition may reflect abnormal processing of response to contextual feeding conditioning (5).
The combined study of the functional and morpho-structural characteristics of HT nuclei will allow for a better understanding and monitoring of eating disorders.
During food cue stimuli, altered activation of HT nuclei involved in food networks were observed in Anorexic and Obese groups. Finally, higher activation of the right Lateral HT Area in the Anorexic group during the context condition may reflect abnormal processing of response to contextual feeding conditioning (5).
The combined study of the functional and morpho-structural characteristics of HT nuclei will allow for a better understanding and monitoring of eating disorders.
Disorders of the Nervous System:
Psychiatric (eg. Depression, Anxiety, Schizophrenia) 2
Modeling and Analysis Methods:
Activation (eg. BOLD task-fMRI) 1
Multivariate Approaches
Neuroanatomy, Physiology, Metabolism and Neurotransmission:
Anatomy and Functional Systems
Keywords:
FUNCTIONAL MRI
STRUCTURAL MRI
Other - Hypothalamic nuclei, , obesity, anorexia nervosa, UHF MRI, food intake, women
1|2Indicates the priority used for review
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(2) Neudorfer, C., Germann, J., Elias, G.J.B., Gramer, R., Boutet, A., & Lozano, A.M. (2020) A high-resolution in vivo magnetic resonance imaging atlas of the human hypothalamic region. Sci Data, 7, 305.
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