A multicenter cross-sectional study to elucidate altered resting-state functional connectivity of the insular cortex in anorexia nervosa, segmented by functional localization
Although changes in insular function have been thought to play a central role in the pathophysiology of anorexia nervosa (AN), due to factors such as insufficient sample size, there have been no studies examining changes in resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) between insula and whole brain in AN, based on functional localization of insula. Here, we subdivided insula into 6 regions per side based on functional localization and reanalyzed previously published functional magnetic resonance imaging data from 114 female patients with AN and 135 female healthy controls (HC). We calculated the rsFCs between ROIs and compared the results between groups, with the 12 insular regions serving as seed ROIs and 142 regions of the whole brain as target ROIs. Compared to HC, AN patients had a increased rsFC between dorsal anterior insula (daIC) and amygdala, and a decreased rsFC between posterior division of dorsal middle insula (pdmIC) and opercular cortex (false discovery rate [FDR] corrected p-value < 0.05 with analysis-level correction, which means that FDR correction was applied to all seed ROIs and all target ROI combinations). These rsFC changes may be the neurological basis for AN symptoms, such as hypersensitivity to negative stimuli, taste disorder, and enhanced taste aversion learning.
Authors
- Yasuhiro Sato (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7383-9163)
- Yoshiyuki Hirano (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3844-3061)
- Shingo Kakeda (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0521-9728)
- Yumi Hamamoto (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7166-6059)
- Motoharu Gondo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7694-3329)
- Naoki Kodama (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6701-8470)
- Sayo Hamatani (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7847-6381)
- Tomohiko Muratsubaki (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-9567-1831)
- Tsunehiko Takamura (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4616-4054)
- Tomomi Noda (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0395-0936)
- Rio Kamashita (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-8876-0887)
- Yusuke Sudo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7648-9370)
- Kazufumi Yoshihara
- Hiroaki Adachi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9302-4663)
- Eiji Shimizu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6741-9338)
- Noriko Numata (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0117-7740)
- Shin Fukudo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2265-0349)
- Keima Tose (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7021-1127)
- M Takahashi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-0378-1136)
- Koji Matsumoto (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1907-0247)
- Motoaki Sugiura (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5412-0380)
- Michiko Kawabata
- Yoshiya Moriguchi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9248-8864)
- Momo Sunada
- Masanori Isobe (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6543-0330)
- Tomotaka Shoji (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-3835-8426)
- Shu Takakura (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9149-7651)
- Atsushi Sekiguchi
Institutions
- Hirosaki University (JP)
- Chiba University (JP)
- University of Occupational and Environmental Health Japan (JP)
- Tohoku University (JP)
- Kyoto University (JP)
- Ishinomaki Senshu University (JP)
- Tohoku University Hospital (JP)
- Kyushu University Hospital (JP)
- Chiba University Hospital (JP)
- National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry (JP)
- University of Fukui Hospital (JP)
- Hiroshima Cosmopolitan University (JP)
- National Institute of Mental Health (JP)
- Center for Forensic Mental Health, Chiba University (JP)
- The University of Osaka (JP)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Scientific Reports
- Published
- 2025-05-31
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-03641-0
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Functional Brain Connectivity Studies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.43
Funders
- Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development
- Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare
- Japan Society for the Promotion of Science