Gray matter volume alterations in subjects with overweight and obesity: Evidence from a voxel-based meta-analysis

Lei Li; Hua Yu; Ming Zhong; Siyi Liu; Wei Wei; Yajing Meng; Ming-Li Li; Tao Li; Qiang Wang

doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2022.955741

Gray matter volume alterations in subjects with overweight and obesity: Evidence from a voxel-based meta-analysis

Front Psychiatry. 2022 Sep 26:13:955741. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.955741. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Lei Li^{1

2}, Hua Yu^{1

2}, Ming Zhong³, Siyi Liu^{1

2}, Wei Wei^{1

2}, Yajing Meng^{1

2}, Ming-Li Li^{1

2}, Tao Li⁴, Qiang Wang^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Mental Health Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China.
² Sichuan Clinical Medical Research Center for Mental Disorders, Chengdu, China.
³ Department of Sport and Health Science, University of Exeter, Exeter, United Kingdom.
⁴ Department of Neurobiology, Affiliated Mental Health Center & Hangzhou Seventh People's Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.

Abstract

Background: Obesity is a multi-systemic disease with complex etiology. And consistent evidence indicated obesity or overweight subjects render brain structure changes. Increasing evidence indicates these subjects have shown widespread structural brain gray matter volume (GMV) changes. However, results from other neuroimaging studies have been inconsistent. Consequently, the question remains whether body mass index (BMI), a gold standard to define obesity/overweight, is associated with brain structural changes.

Methods: This study will apply an updated meta-analysis of voxel-based GMV studies to compare GMV changes in overweight and obese subjects. Online databases were used to build on relevant studies published before May 2022. The updated Seed-based d Mapping with Permutation of Subject Images (SDM-PSI) explores GMV changes in individuals with overweight and obesity and further examines the correlation between GMV and obesity-related variables, specifically body mass index (BMI).

Results: This research included fourteen studies and provided a whole-brain analysis of GMV distribution in overweight and obese individuals. It revealed lower GMV in brain regions, including the left putamen and right precentral gyrus, in individuals with overweight and obesity compared to lean controls. Further, meta-regression analyses revealed GMV in the left middle occipital gyrus was negatively correlated with the BMI of the whole sample.

Conclusion: GMV decreased was reported in reward circuit processing areas and sensorimotor processing areas of individuals with overweight and obesity diagnoses, suggesting an underlying structural basis for reward processing and sensorimotor processing dysregulation in overweight and obese subjects. Our results also suggest that GMV in occipital gyrus, a key region for food visual and gustatory encoding, is negatively associated with BMI. These results provide further evidence for the dysregulated reward circuit in individuals with overweight and obesity.

Keywords: BMI; gray matter volume; meta-analysis; overweight and obesity; voxel-based morphometry.

Publication types

Systematic Review