ESPE Abstracts

Background: Obesity interventions often result in increased motivation to eat after weight loss.Objective: We investigated relationships between obesity outcomes and changes in brain activation by visual food cues and hormone levels in response to obesity intervention by family-based behavioral treatment (FBT).Design, Methods, and Participants: Functional neuroimaging and plasma ho...

Behavioral studies suggest that brain satiety responses to food consumption are altered in children with obesity. We studied brain regions involved in satiety processing using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) before and after a test meal. Satiety-related hormonal changes were assessed. Fifty-four 9-11 year-old children with obesity (OB) and 22 children with healthy weight (HW) were studied. Subjects underwent two fMRI scans, one before and one after a test meal, an...

Early puberty is associated with obesity in young girls and has physical, psychosocial, and reproductive implications. In adults and children, MRI evidence of cellular inflammation in the mediobasal hypothalamus (MBH gliosis) is seen in obesity, and its anatomic location overlaps with key neuronal populations controlling reproduction, fertility, and feeding. We sought to assess whether MRI evidence of MBH gliosis associates with pubertal development in girls and if that differ...

Family-based behavioral treatment (FBT) is the recommended intervention for children with obesity (OB). However, there is a large variability in short- and long-term treatment response and mechanisms for unsuccessful treatment outcomes are not understood. We studied brain regions involved in satiety processing in 9-11-year-old children with obesity (OB, n=54) and children with healthy weight (HW, n=22). Subjects underwent a functional magnetic resonan...

Background: Obesity is a persistent disorder that almost universally recurs following treatment, suggesting a disruption on central nervous system control over energy homeostasis. Recent literature suggests that hypothalamic inflammation may have an important role on obesity pathogenesis. This inflammatory reaction, which histologically appears as a reactive gliosis, may be detected using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and has just been shown in rodent models and adults.</p...