Orbitofrontal neural dissociation of healthy and unhealthy food reward sensitivity in normal-weight binge eaters

Wei Li; Ximei Chen; Yijun Luo; Lin Luo; Hong Chen

doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2022.114736

Orbitofrontal neural dissociation of healthy and unhealthy food reward sensitivity in normal-weight binge eaters

Psychiatry Res. 2022 Oct:316:114736. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2022.114736. Epub 2022 Jul 22.

Authors

Wei Li¹, Ximei Chen¹, Yijun Luo¹, Lin Luo¹, Hong Chen²

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (SWU), Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400715, China; Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China.
² Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (SWU), Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400715, China; Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China; Research Center of Psychology and Social Development, Chongqing 400715, China. Electronic address: chenhg@swu.edu.cn.

PMID: 35932570
DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2022.114736

Abstract

Objective: The orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) has been repeatedly found to play an important role in food reward processing and binge eating (BE) episodes. However, most studies have focused mainly on reward-related neural alterations in clinical binge eating patients, with little consideration of preclinical individuals with BE that are more likely to develop from non-clinical individuals to clinical patients in the future. This study aimed to examine whether preclinical binge eaters exhibited OFC-related resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) in the context of food reward.

Method: Binge eaters (BE group, n = 28) and healthy controls (HCs, n = 28) matched for age and body mass index (BMI) underwent rs-fMRI scans and completed self-reported assessment of BE symptoms. Food reward sensitivity was measured using the modified food incentive delay task. Analysis of covariance was used to assess the between-group differences in the medial and lateral OFC (a priori selected regions of interest) connectivity patterns in the context of food reward, while controlling for age, sex, and BMI.

Results: Lower unhealthy food (UF) reward sensitivity was significantly associated with stronger inverse OFC-putamen connectivity for HCs, while the BE group showed no association between UF reward sensitivity and the OFC-putamen connectivity. Higher healthy food (HF) reward sensitivity in the BE group was significantly correlated with stronger positive OFC-middle frontal gyrus and OFC-inferior parietal gyrus connectivity, while the opposite was found for HCs.

Conclusions: Binge eaters showed less functional synchrony within reward regions contributing to the UF reward sensitivity, but enhanced neural interactions between reward and inhibitory control regions correlated with the HF reward sensitivity. These novel findings may demonstrate the potential orbitofrontal neural dissociation of unhealthy and healthy food reward sensitivity in normal-weight binge eaters.

Keywords: Binge eaters; Food incentive delay task; Food reward sensitivity; Orbitofrontal cortex; Resting-state functional connectivity.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Binge-Eating Disorder*
Bulimia* / diagnostic imaging
Humans
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Prefrontal Cortex / diagnostic imaging
Reward