Evaluation of spontaneous regional brain activity in weight-recovered anorexia nervosa.
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| Abstract | :  Whereas research using structural magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI) reports sizable grey matter reductions in patients suffering from acute anorexia nervosa (AN) to be largely reversible already after short-term weight gain, many task-based and resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) studies suggest persistent brain alterations even after long-term weight rehabilitation. First investigations into spontaneous regional brain activity using voxel-wise resting-state measures found widespread abnormalities in acute AN, but no studies have compared intrinsic brain activity properties in weight-recovered individuals with a history of AN (recAN) with healthy controls (HCs). SMRI and RSFC data were analysed from a sample of 130 female volunteers: 65 recAN and 65 pairwise age-matched HC. Cortical grey matter thickness was assessed using FreeSurfer software. Fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (fALFFs), mean-square successive difference (MSSD), regional homogeneity (ReHo), voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity (VHMC), and degree centrality (DC) were calculated. SMRI and RSFC data were analysed from a sample of 130 female volunteers: 65 recAN and 65 pairwise age-matched HCs. Cortical grey matter thickness was assessed using FreeSurfer software. Fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (fALFF), mean-square successive difference (MSSD), regional homogeneity (ReHo), voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity (VHMC), and degree centrality (DC) were calculated. Abnormal regional homogeneity found in acute AN seems to normalize in recAN, supporting assumptions of a state rather than a trait marker. Aberrant fALFF values in the cerebellum and the infertior temporal gyrus could possibly hint towards trait factors or a scar (the latter, e.g., from prolonged periods of undernutrition), warranting further longitudinal research. | 
| Year of Publication | :  2020 | 
| Journal | :  Translational psychiatry | 
| Volume | :  10 | 
| Issue | :  1 | 
| Number of Pages | :  395 | 
| Date Published | :  2020 | 
| URL | :  https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-020-01081-0 | 
| DOI | :  10.1038/s41398-020-01081-0 | 
| Short Title | :  Transl Psychiatry | 
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