Regional mu-opioid receptor binding in insular cortex is decreased in bulimia nervosa and correlates inversely with fasting behavior

• Published in: The Journal of nuclear medicine (1978) Vol. 46; no. 8; p. 1349
• Main Authors: Bencherif, Badreddine, Guarda, Angela S, Colantuoni, Carlo, Ravert, Hayden T, Dannals, Robert F, Frost, J James
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01.08.2005
• Subjects: Adult; Bulimia - diagnostic imaging; Bulimia - metabolism; Carbon Radioisotopes; Cerebral Cortex - diagnostic imaging; Cerebral Cortex - metabolism; Fasting - metabolism; Female; Fentanyl - analogs & derivatives; Fentanyl - pharmacokinetics; Humans; Protein Binding; Radionuclide Imaging; Radiopharmaceuticals; Receptors, Opioid, mu - metabolism; Statistics as Topic
• ISSN: 0161-5505

The endogenous opioid system of the brain has been implicated in feeding behavior. Abnormal repeated activation of this system may constitute a neural substrate for the compulsive eating behavior observed in bulimia nervosa. This study examined the binding potential of the brain mu-opioid receptor (mu-OR) in bulimia nervosa. Eight women with bulimia nervosa and 8 female controls underwent brain MRI followed by (11)C-carfentanil PET. Voxel-based methods were used to assess group differences in mu-OR binding between controls and bulimic subjects and to correlate mu-OR binding with the frequency of recent self-reported abnormal eating behaviors in bulimic subjects. mu-OR binding in the left insular cortex was less in bulimic subjects than in controls and correlated negatively with recent fasting behavior. Changes in mu-OR binding in the insula may be important in the pathogenesis or maintenance of the self-perpetuating behavioral cycle of bulimic subjects because the insula is the primary gustatory cortex and has repeatedly been implicated in the processing of the reward value of food.