Morphological Changes in the Brain of Acutely Ill and Weight-Recovered Patients with Anorexia Nervosa

Author(s):  
Jochen Seitz ◽  
Katharina Bühren ◽  
Georg G. von Polier ◽  
Nicole Heussen ◽  
Beate Herpertz-Dahlmann ◽  
...  

Objective: Acute anorexia nervosa (AN) leads to reduced gray (GM) and white matter (WM) volume in the brain, which however improves again upon restoration of weight. Yet little is known about the extent and clinical correlates of these brain changes, nor do we know much about the time-course and completeness of their recovery. Methods: We conducted a meta-analysis and a qualitative review of all magnetic resonance imaging studies involving volume analyses of the brain in both acute and recovered AN. Results: We identified structural neuroimaging studies with a total of 214 acute AN patients and 177 weight-recovered AN patients. In acute AN, GM was reduced by 5.6% and WM by 3.8% compared to healthy controls (HC). Short-term weight recovery 2–5 months after admission resulted in restitution of about half of the GM aberrations and almost full WM recovery. After 2–8 years of remission GM and WM were nearly normalized, and differences to HC (GM: –1.0%, WM: –0.7%) were no longer significant, although small residual changes could not be ruled out. In the qualitative review some studies found GM volume loss to be associated with cognitive deficits and clinical prognosis. Conclusions: GM and WM were strongly reduced in acute AN. The completeness of brain volume rehabilitation remained equivocal.

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 471-488 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shailesh Kumar ◽  
Kirklin R. Smith ◽  
Yazmin L. Serrano Negron ◽  
Susan T. Harbison

Although sleep is heritable and conserved across species, sleep duration varies from individual to individual. A shared genetic architecture between sleep duration and other evolutionarily important traits could explain this variability. Learning and memory are critical traits sharing a genetic architecture with sleep. We wanted to know whether learning and memory would be altered in extreme long or short sleepers. We therefore assessed the short-term learning and memory ability of flies from the Sleep Inbred Panel (SIP), a collection of 39 extreme long- and short-sleeping inbred lines of Drosophila. Neither long nor short sleepers had appreciable learning, in contrast to a moderate-sleeping control. We also examined the response of long and short sleepers to enriched social conditions, a paradigm previously shown to induce morphological changes in the brain. While moderate-sleeping control flies had increased daytime sleep and quantifiable increases in brain structures under enriched social conditions, flies of the Sleep Inbred Panel did not display these changes. The SIP thus emerges as an important model for the relationship between sleep and learning and memory.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cassandra L. Boness ◽  
Ozlem Korucuoglu ◽  
Jarrod M Ellingson ◽  
Anne M. Merrill ◽  
Yoanna E. McDowell ◽  
...  

Twenty-first birthday drinking is characterized by extreme alcohol consumption. Accumulating evidence suggests that high-dose bingeing is related to structural brain changes and cognitive deficits. This is particularly problematic in the transition from adolescence to adulthood when the brain is still maturing, elevating the brain’s sensitivity to the acute effects of alcohol intoxication. Heavy drinking is associated with reduced structural integrity in the hippocampus and corpus callosum and is accompanied by cognitive deficits. However, there is little research examining changes in the human brain related to discrete heavy drinking episodes. The present study investigated whether alcohol exposure during a 21st birthday celebration would result in changes to white matter microstructure by utilizing Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) measures and a quasi-experimental design. By examining structural changes in the brain from pre- to post-celebration within subjects (N = 49) prospectively, we were able to more directly observe brain changes following an extreme drinking episode. Region of interest analyses demonstrated increased fractional anisotropy (FA) in the posterior fornix (p < 0.0001) and in the body of the corpus callosum (p = 0.0029) from pre- to post-birthday celebration. These results suggest acute white matter damage to the fornix and corpus callosum following an extreme drinking episode, which is especially problematic during continued neurodevelopment. Twenty-first birthday drinking may, therefore, be considered an important target event for preventing acute brain injury in young adults.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hong Jiang ◽  
Wen-Jie Yang ◽  
Qing-Fang Sun ◽  
Chang Liu ◽  
Liu-Guan Bian

The adverse effects of hypercortisolism on the human brain have been highlighted in previous studies of Cushing’s disease (CD). However, the relative alterations in regional hypercortisolism in the brain remain unclear. Thus, we investigated regional volumetric alterations in CD patients. We also analyzed the associations between these volumetric changes and clinical characteristics. The study participants comprised of active CD (n = 60), short-term-remitted CD (n = 28), and long-term-remitted CD (n = 32) patients as well as healthy control subjects (n = 66). Gray matter volumes (GMVs) were measured via voxel-based morphometry. The GMVs of substructures were defined using the automated anatomical labeling (AAL) atlas. Trends for partial reversibility of GMVs were found in 87 brain substructures of CD patients. However, significantly different trends, including enlarged, irreversible, and unburden trends, were observed in the rest of the brain substructures. Trends toward normalization in GMV were found in most brain substructures of CD patients. Different trends, including enlarged, irreversible, and unburden GMVs, were observed in the other subregions, such as the amygdala, thalamus, and caudate. Morphological changes in GMVs after the resolution of hypercortisolism are a complex phenomenon; the characteristics of these changes significantly differ within the brain substructures.


Metabolites ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 7
Author(s):  
Manuel Föcker ◽  
Alexander Cecil ◽  
Cornelia Prehn ◽  
Jerzy Adamski ◽  
Muriel Albrecht ◽  
...  

Acute anorexia nervosa (AN) constitutes an extreme physiological state. We aimed to detect state related metabolic alterations during inpatient admission and upon short- and long-term weight regain. In addition, we tested the hypothesis that metabolite concentrations adapt to those of healthy controls (HC) after long-term weight regain. Thirty-five female adolescents with AN and 25 female HC were recruited. Based on a targeted approach 187 metabolite concentrations were detected at inpatient admission (T0), after short-term weight recovery (T1; half of target-weight) and close to target weight (T2). Pattern hunter and time course analysis were performed. The highest number of significant differences in metabolite concentrations (N = 32) were observed between HC and T1. According to the detected main pattern, metabolite concentrations at T2 became more similar to those of HC. The course of single metabolite concentrations (e.g., glutamic acid) revealed different metabolic subtypes within the study sample. Patients with AN after short-term weight regain are in a greater “metabolic imbalance” than at starvation. After long-term weight regain, patients reach a metabolite profile similar to HC. Our results might be confounded by different metabolic subtypes of patients with AN.


2021 ◽  
pp. 0271678X2199246
Author(s):  
Jenny I Szu ◽  
André Obenaus

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a devastating neurological degenerative disorder and is the most common cause of dementia in the elderly. Clinically, AD manifests with memory and cognitive decline associated with deposition of hallmark amyloid beta (Aβ) plaques and neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs). Although the mechanisms underlying AD remains unclear, two hypotheses have been proposed. The established amyloid hypothesis states that Aβ accumulation is the basis of AD and leads to formation of NFTs. In contrast, the two-hit vascular hypothesis suggests that early vascular damage leads to increased accumulation of Aβ deposits in the brain. Multiple studies have reported significant morphological changes of the cerebrovasculature which can result in severe functional deficits. In this review, we delve into known structural and functional vascular alterations in various mouse models of AD and the cellular and molecular constituents that influence these changes to further disease progression. Many studies shed light on the direct impact of Aβ on the cerebrovasculature and how it is disrupted during the progression of AD. However, more research directed towards an improved understanding of how the cerebrovasculature is modified over the time course of AD is needed prior to developing future interventional strategies.


Author(s):  
D.N. Collins ◽  
J.N. Turner ◽  
K.O. Brosch ◽  
R.F. Seegal

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are a ubiquitous class of environmental pollutants with toxic and hepatocellular effects, including accumulation of fat, proliferated smooth endoplasmic recticulum (SER), and concentric membrane arrays (CMAs) (1-3). The CMAs appear to be a membrane storage and degeneration organelle composed of a large number of concentric membrane layers usually surrounding one or more lipid droplets often with internalized membrane fragments (3). The present study documents liver alteration after a short term single dose exposure to PCBs with high chlorine content, and correlates them with reported animal weights and central nervous system (CNS) measures. In the brain PCB congeners were concentrated in particular regions (4) while catecholamine concentrations were decreased (4-6). Urinary levels of homovanillic acid a dopamine metabolite were evaluated (7).Wistar rats were gavaged with corn oil (6 controls), or with a 1:1 mixture of Aroclor 1254 and 1260 in corn oil at 500 or 1000 mg total PCB/kg (6 at each level).


2008 ◽  
Vol 45 ◽  
pp. 147-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jörg Schaber ◽  
Edda Klipp

Volume is a highly regulated property of cells, because it critically affects intracellular concentration. In the present chapter, we focus on the short-term volume regulation in yeast as a consequence of a shift in extracellular osmotic conditions. We review a basic thermodynamic framework to model volume and solute flows. In addition, we try to select a model for turgor, which is an important hydrodynamic property, especially in walled cells. Finally, we demonstrate the validity of the presented approach by fitting the dynamic model to a time course of volume change upon osmotic shock in yeast.


2001 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 146-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Debra K. Katzman ◽  
Bruce Christensen ◽  
Arlene R. Young ◽  
Robert B. Zipursky

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