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  • Bariatric and Metabolic Surgery Original Article
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Altered brain activity in severely obese women may recover after Roux-en Y gastric bypass surgery

International Journal of Obesity volume 38, pages 341–348 (2014)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Objective:

Neuroimaging studies have demonstrated alterations in brain activity in obese (OB) subjects that might be causally linked to their disorder. Roux-en Y gastric bypass (RYGB) surgery induces a marked and sustained weight loss and may affect brain activity. The aim of this study was to compare brain activity pattern between severely OB women (n=11), normal-weight women (NW, n=11) and previously severely OB women who had undergone RYGB surgery (RYGB, n=9) on average 3.4±0.8 years (all >1 year) before the experiment.

Design:

Brain activity was assessed by functional magnetic resonance imaging during a one-back task containing food- and non-food-related pictures and during resting state. Hunger and satiety were repeatedly rated on a visual analog scale during the experiment.

Results:

As compared with NW and also with RYGB women, OB women showed (1) a higher cerebellar and a lower fusiform gyrus activity during the visual stimulation independently of the picture category, (2) a higher hypothalamic activation during the presentation of low- vs high-caloric food pictures, (3) a higher hippocampal and cerebellar activity during the working memory task and (4) a stronger functional connectivity in frontal regions of the default mode network during resting state. There were no differences in brain activity between the NW and RYGB women, both during picture presentation and during resting state. RYGB women generally rated lower on hunger and higher on satiety, whereas there were no differences in these ratings between the OB and NW women.

Conclusion:

Data provide evidence for an altered brain activity pattern in severely OB women and suggest that RYGB surgery and/or the surgically induced weight loss reverses the obesity-associated alterations.

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Acknowledgements

We thank all women who voluntarily participated in the study. This work was supported by the ‘Kompetenznetz Adipositas (Competence Network for Adiposity)’ funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (FKZ: 01GI0837) and (FKZ: 01GI0849). NB is supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG).

Author contributions

The author contributions are as follows: study design (BE, BS, BW, HP, MT, NB, SF), data acquisition (BE, BW, RV, SF), data analysis (BW, SK, SF), data interpretation (BS, HP, NB, RV, SF), manuscript writing (BS, SF) and manuscript revision and approval (all authors).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Medical Psychology and Behavioural Neurobiology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany

    S Frank, R Veit, S Kullmann, N Birbaumer & H Preissl

  2. fMEG Center, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany

    S Frank, R Veit, S Kullmann & H Preissl

  3. Department of Surgery, Cantonal Hospital St Gallen, St Gallen, Switzerland

    B Wilms

  4. Interdisciplinary Obesity Center, eSwiss Medical and Surgical Center, St Gallen, Switzerland

    B Ernst, M Thurnheer & B Schultes

  5. Institute for Diabetes Research and Metabolic Diseases of the Helmholtz Center Munich at the University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany

    S Kullmann, A Fritsche & H Preissl

  6. German Center for Diabetes Research, Neuherberg, Germany

    S Kullmann, A Fritsche & H Preissl

  7. Department of Internal Medicine IV, University Hospital, Tübingen, Germany

    A Fritsche

  8. Ospedale San Camillo, Istituto di Ricoveroe Cura a Carattere Scientifico, Venezia-Lido, Italy

    N Birbaumer

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Correspondence to S Frank.

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Frank, S., Wilms, B., Veit, R. et al. Altered brain activity in severely obese women may recover after Roux-en Y gastric bypass surgery. Int J Obes 38, 341–348 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/ijo.2013.60

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ijo.2013.60

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