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Body weight and the reward system: the volume of the right amygdala may be associated with body mass index in young overweight men

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Abstract

We aimed to investigate the relationship between BMI (body mass index) and the volumes of the structures of the reward system (hippocampus, amygdala, accumbens, caudatum, putamen, and orbitofrontal cortex). The right and left structures were examined separately. Their volumes were assessed using a 3-T MRI scanner and Freesurfer software. Ninety-two healthy subjects were involved (mean BMI: 22.3 ± 3.4 kg/m2, mean age: 23.2 ± 2.7). We found that the volume of the right amygdala positively correlated with the BMI in men but not in women. Moreover, we could demonstrate this association only in the overweight male sub-population. We suggest that an association between body weight and the morphological variability of the reward system can be demonstrated by MRI. This may be further evidence for a different body-weight regulation in the two sexes. The potential relationship between the volume of the right amygdala and the BMI in heavier individuals requires further studies with larger samples.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by a grant from the Bolyai Scholarship of the Hungarian Academy of Science (JJ, NK and AS: helped in the preparation, design and conduct of this study); and grants from the Hungarian Research Fund (OTKA-NKTH F68720: helped in conduction of this study); the Norwegian Financial Mechanism (HU00114: helped in the conduction and analysis process of this study), Hungarian Research Council (ETT 272/2009: helped in the preparation, design and conduction of this study).

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurology, University of Pécs, Hungary, Rét u. 2., 7623, Pecs, Hungary

    Gergely Orsi, Gabor Perlaki, Norbert Kovacs, Zilia Papp, Eniko Plozer, Ferenc Nagy, Samuel Komoly & József Janszky

  2. Department of Biology, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary

    Gergely Orsi & Robert Gabriel

  3. Pécs Diagnostic Centre, Pécs, Hungary

    Gergely Orsi, Gabor Perlaki, Mihaly Aradi, Zilia Papp, Attila Schwarcz & József Janszky

  4. Department of Neurosurgery, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary

    Gabor Perlaki, Mihaly Aradi, Tamas Doczi & Attila Schwarcz

  5. Department of Behavioural Sciences, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary

    Kazmer Karadi

  6. Institute of Physiology and Neurophysiology Research Group of the HAS, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary

    Csaba Szalay, Zoltan Karadi & Laszlo Lenard

  7. Department of Psychiatry, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary

    Tamas Tenyi

  8. Swiss Epilepsy Center, Zürich, Switzerland

    Hennric Jokeit

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  1. Gergely Orsi
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  2. Gabor Perlaki
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  3. Norbert Kovacs
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  18. József Janszky
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Correspondence to József Janszky.

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Orsi, G., Perlaki, G., Kovacs, N. et al. Body weight and the reward system: the volume of the right amygdala may be associated with body mass index in young overweight men. Brain Imaging and Behavior 5, 149–157 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11682-011-9119-2

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