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Dynamic Network Reconfiguration of Brain Function During Exposure to Aversive Stimuli
Zhoukang Wu1, Min Wang2, Lei Guo3
1Department of Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine Affiliated Sixth People's Hospital, Shanghai, China.
Objective:
Obesity, a critical public health challenge, involves dysregulated food stimuli responses central to its pathophysiology. Aversion to harmful food is protective, but dynamic brain network reorganization during aversion processing in obesity and its clinical implications remain inadequately understood.
Methods:
Brain activity was recorded from 30 participants with obesity and 35 healthy participants during exposure to spoiled food videos in an MRI scanner. We applied dynamic network analysis to assess obesity-related alterations in neural circuits and their links to eating disorders.
Results:
The group with obesity showed significantly lower integration between the visual (VN), dorsal attention (DAN), and subcortical (SUB) networks than the healthy control group while viewing spoiled food videos. Critically, this DAN-SUB integration correlated positively with body image distress and negatively with craving ratings, and it moderated the predictive link between cognitive impulsivity and eating disorders. Granger causality analysis confirmed a dominant indirect pathway with stronger effective connectivity, showing differential spatial associations with neurotransmitter receptors (α4β2, mGluR5, NMDA, and CB1).
Conclusions:
This study reveals VN-DAN-SUB dynamic interactions in aversion processing, emphasizing the indirect pathway's key role. Inefficient VN-DAN-SUB coordination in obesity may impair aversive food stimuli regulation, supporting the emotion regulation deficit hypothesis and offering a neurobiological basis for future interventions.
Insights
Individuals with obesity exhibit altered brain network dynamics when processing aversive food cues. This impaired visual-DAN-SUB network integration is linked to eating disorder symptoms, suggesting a neurobiological basis for interventions.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Public Health
- Psychiatry
Background:
- Obesity is a major public health issue linked to abnormal responses to food stimuli.
- Understanding brain network dynamics in aversion processing is crucial for obesity pathophysiology.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate dynamic brain network alterations during aversion processing in individuals with obesity.
- To explore the clinical implications of these network changes in relation to eating disorders.
Main Methods:
- fMRI was used to record brain activity in 30 participants with obesity and 35 healthy controls.
- Dynamic network analysis and Granger causality were applied to assess neural circuit alterations and effective connectivity.
Main Results:
- Participants with obesity showed reduced integration between visual (VN), dorsal attention (DAN), and subcortical (SUB) networks when viewing spoiled food.
- DAN-SUB integration correlated with body image distress and craving, and moderated the link between impulsivity and eating disorders.
- A dominant indirect pathway with differential neurotransmitter receptor associations was identified.
Conclusions:
- Dynamic VN-DAN-SUB interactions are key in aversion processing, with impaired coordination in obesity.
- Inefficient network coordination may hinder aversive food stimulus regulation, supporting the emotion regulation deficit hypothesis.
- Findings offer a neurobiological basis for developing novel interventions for obesity and related eating disorders.
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