Functional connectivity correlates of response inhibition impairment in anorexia nervosa.

Journal: Psychiatry research. Neuroimaging
PMID: 26655584

Abstract

Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a disorder characterized by high levels of cognitive control and behavioral perseveration. The present study aims at exploring inhibitory control abilities and their functional connectivity correlates in patients with AN. Inhibitory control - an executive function that allows the realization of adaptive behavior according to environmental contingencies - has been assessed by means of the Stop-Signal paradigm. The study involved 155 patients with lifetime AN and 102 healthy women. A subsample underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging and was genotyped for COMT and 5-HTTLPR polymorphisms. AN patients showed an impaired response inhibition and a disruption of the functional connectivity of the ventral attention circuit, a neural network implicated in behavioral response when a stimulus occurs unexpected. The 5-HTTLPR genotype appears to significantly interact with the functional connectivity of ventral attention network in explaining task performance in both patients and controls, suggesting a role of the serotoninergic system in mechanisms of response selection. The disruption of the ventral attention network in patients with AN suggests lower efficiency of bottom-up signal filtering, which might be involved in difficulties to adapt behavioral responses to environmental needs. Our findings deserve further research to confirm their scientific and therapeutic implications.

Authors

  • Enrico Collantoni
    Psychiatric Clinic, Department of Neurosciences, University of Padova, Via Giustiniani 3, 35128 Padova, Italy.
  • Silvia Michelon
    Psychiatric Clinic, Department of Neurosciences, University of Padova, Via Giustiniani 3, 35128 Padova, Italy.
  • Elena Tenconi
    Psychiatric Clinic, Department of Neurosciences, University of Padova, Via Giustiniani 3, 35128 Padova, Italy.
  • Daniela Degortes
    Psychiatric Clinic, Department of Neurosciences, University of Padova, Via Giustiniani 3, 35128 Padova, Italy.
  • Francesca Titton
    Psychiatric Clinic, Department of Neurosciences, University of Padova, Via Giustiniani 3, 35128 Padova, Italy.
  • Renzo Manara
    Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Salerno, Italy; IRCCS Istituto San Camillo, Venezia, Italy.
  • Maurizio Clementi
    Clinical Genetics Unit, Department of Woman and Child Health, University of Padova, Italy.
  • Claudia Pinato
    Clinical Genetics Unit, Department of Woman and Child Health, University of Padova, Italy.
  • Monica Forzan
    Clinical Genetics Unit, Department of Woman and Child Health, University of Padova, Italy.
  • Matteo Cassina
    Clinical Genetics Unit, Department of Woman and Child Health, University of Padova, Italy.
  • Paolo Santonastaso
    Department of Neuroscience, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
  • Angela Favaro
    Psychiatric Clinic, Department of Neurosciences, University of Padova, Via Giustiniani 3, 35128 Padova, Italy. Electronic address: angela.favaro@unipd.it.

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