Background: Neuroimaging studies suggest that appetitive drive is enhanced in obesity. Objective: To test if appetitive drive varies in direct proportion to the level of body adiposity after accounting for genetic factors that contribute to both brain response and obesity risk. Subjects/Methods: Participants were adult monozygotic (n=54) and dizygotic (n=30) twins with at least one […]
Background/objectives: The salience network (SN) comprises brain regions that evaluate cues in the external environment in light of internal signals. We examined the SN response to meal intake and potential genetic and acquired influences on SN function. Subjects/methods: Monozygotic (MZ; 40 pairs) and dizygotic (15 pairs) twins had body composition and plasma metabolic profile evaluated (glucose, insulin, […]
Objective: This study aimed to determine whether a relationship was evident between gliosis in the mediobasal hypothalamus (MBH) and plasma testosterone concentrations in men. Methods: A total of 41 adult men (aged 18-50 years) from 23 twin pairs underwent fasting morning blood draw and brain magnetic resonance imaging. T2 relaxation time was used to quantify gliosis in […]
Background: Variants in the first intron of the fat mass and obesity-associated (FTO) gene increase obesity risk. People with “high-risk” FTO genotypes exhibit preference for high-fat foods, reduced satiety responsiveness, and greater food intake consistent with impaired satiety. Objective: We sought central nervous system mechanisms that might underlie impaired satiety perception in people with a higher risk […]
Purpose of review: Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) using visual food cues provides insight into brain regulation of appetite in humans. This review sought evidence for genetic determinants of these responses. Recent findings: Echoing behavioral studies of food cue responsiveness, twin study approaches detect significant inherited influences on brain response to food cues. Both polygenic (whole genome) […]
Objective: To test the relationship of anxiety to caloric intake and food cue perception in women and men. Methods: Fifty-five twins (26 complete, 3 incomplete pairs; 51% women) underwent 2 functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans (before and after a standardized meal) and then ate at an ad libitum buffet to objectively assess food intake. State and […]
Purpose: Urological chronic pelvic pain syndromes have refractory bladder or pelvic pain as the dominant symptom. This has been attributed to changes in the central nervous system caused by a chronic barrage of noxious stimuli. We developed what is to our knowledge a novel challenge protocol that induced bladder distention in study participants to reproduce pain […]
Background: Neural responses to highly energetic food cues are robust and are suppressed by eating. It is not known if neural responsiveness to food cues is an inherited trait and possibly even one that mediates the genetic influences on body weight that have been previously observed. Objective: We investigated the inherited influence on brain responses to high-calorie […]
We studied whether self-reported intent to exert cognitive control over eating was associated with differences in brain response to food cues, independent of genetic background. Subjects were ten pairs of identical twins in which one twin was a restrained eater and the co-twin was unrestrained, as classified by the Herman and Polivy Restraint Scale. Before […]
