Functional connectivity of brain structures in patients with anorexia nervosa based on resting state fMRI: prospective study

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: This paper analyzes local and foreign literature on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in patients with anorexia nervosa. Resting state fMRI results of the brain of patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) are presented.OBJECTIVE: To study functional connectivity in the networks in resting state in patients with AN.MATERIALS AND METHODS: 43 patients with anorexia nervosa aged 14 to 19 years were examined. The control group consisted of 31 healthy volunteers. The connectivity of the structures involved in the formation of the default mode brain network, frontoparietal and visual networks was analyzed. Statistics: Mathematical and statistical processing was applied in the programming environment of the Python programming language, using the Jupyter-notebook development environment and application modules for statistical analysis Pandas and Numpi. The main tools for statistical analysis of functional MRI were the specialized software package CONN-TOOLBOX.RESULTS: In the default mode network, a decrease in connectivity between the medial prefrontal cortex and the cluster including the angular gyrus and the supramarginal gyrus, and an increase in connectivity between the right lateral parietal cortex and the cluster including the left precentral and postcentral gyrus, were revealed. In the frontoparietal network, significant indicators of a decrease in connectivity between the right lateral prefrontal cortex and three clusters were obtained, including the poles of the frontal lobes, the left superior and middle frontal gyri, and the left lateral occipital cortex. In the visual network, there was a decrease in connectivity between the left lateral visual network and the cluster which includes mainly the lateral parts of the cerebellar hemispheres and its vermis, the right lateral visual network and the cluster which includes mainly the right and left lingual gyrus, cerebellar hemispheres and vermis.CONCLUSION: Our study showed a disruption of the functional connectivity in patients with AN, leading to visuospatial disorders and, as a result, a change in the complex process of setting goals, planning appropriate steps to these goals, and impaired cognitive control.