Orbitofrontal cortex functional connectivity changes in patients with binge eating disorder and bulimia nervosa

We aimed to define the shared and unshared functional neurobiological underpinnings of binge eating disorder (BED) and bulimia nervosa (BN). These disorders both involve loss of control over binge eating, but differ based on purging behavior and body image distortion. BED and BN have also been found to show differences in brain activation patterns in reward sensitivity. We enrolled 13 and 12 drug-naive and medication-free women with BED and BN, respectively, and 22 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. We performed an orbitofrontal cortex (OFC)-seeded resting-state whole brain functional connectivity (FC) analysis among the groups. In this study, BED patients exhibited significantly higher impulsivity than controls, whereas the difference in impulsivity between BN and controls was not significant. Participants with BED and BN showed weaker FC between the left lateral OFC and the right precuneus than controls. In the BED only group, the FC strength between these regions was negatively correlated with self-reported impulsivity. In both BED and BN, FC between the left lateral OFC and the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex was weaker than that in controls. In BED, FC between the left medial OFC and the right cerebellar lobule IV was stronger than that of other groups. Our current results suggest similarities and differences between BED and BN in OFC-seeded FC with respect to reward processing. In particular, FC of the OFC in BED patients showed a significant correlation with their high impulsivity, which may reflect a decline in executive control over binge eating.

Automated summary

This study aimed to explore the shared and unique functional neurobiological basis of binge eating disorder (BED) and bulimia nervosa (BN). The results showed differences in brain activation patterns in reward sensitivity between these disorders. BED patients exhibited higher impulsivity compared to healthy controls, and both BED and BN patients showed weaker functional connectivity (FC) between the left lateral orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and the right precuneus. Additionally, in BED patients, the FC strength between these regions was negatively correlated with self-reported impulsivity. In both BED and BN, FC between the left lateral OFC and the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex was weaker than in controls, while FC between the left medial OFC and the right cerebellar lobule IV was stronger in BED than in other groups.