Archival ReportBrain Type 1 Cannabinoid Receptor Availability in Patients with Anorexia and Bulimia Nervosa
Section snippets
Participants and Procedure
Female AN and BN patients were recruited during hospitalization in an inpatient university center for eating disorders. Seven restricting and seven binging-purging AN patients were included, as well as 16 purging BN patients, as diagnosed according to DSM-IV criteria (12). Patients were between 17 and 45 years old. The control group (CON) consisted of 19 healthy age-matched women. Informed consent was obtained from all participants before study investigations, and the study was approved by the
Clinical Characteristics
Demographic and clinical characteristics and EDES/EDI (sub)scores for all subjects are given in Table 1. Weight and body mass index of AN patients were significantly lower compared with the BN patients and healthy control subjects (p < .001). No differences were found in disease duration between both patient groups. Anorexia nervosa and BN patients scored significantly lower on the EDES questionnaire (p < .001) and significantly higher on the EDI questionnaire relative to healthy control
Discussion
In this study, we observed strong changes in cerebral CB1R availability in vivo in female anorectic and bulimic patients in comparison with age-matched healthy volunteers. A widespread involvement of the ECS in anorexia nervosa is not surprising when considering its role in feeding modulation, in hedonics of food intake, and generally in reward (19). Stimulation of endocannabinoid signaling has an orexigenic effect, but the ECS is also physiologically involved in energy homeostasis through food
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