Food Reward Processing in the Human Brain

University of Heidelberg Medical Center23 enrolled

Overview

The aim of this study is to investigate the influence of different metabolic states and hormonal satiety signalling on responses in neural reward networks.

Given the rapid development of obesity world-wide, a better understanding of the interaction between the encoding of food reward in mesocorticolimbic reward pathways and homeostatic energy regulation is of paramount importance for the development of new treatment strategies. Healthy participants will undergo functional magnetic resonance imaging while performing a task distinguishing between the anticipation and the receipt of either food or monetary reward. Every participant will be scanned twice in a counterbalanced fashion, both during a state of hunger (after 24-hours fasting) and satiety. Blood samples will be collected to assess hormonal satiety signalling. We hope to provide new insights into the neurobiological underpinnings of motivational processing and hedonic evaluation of food reward.

Study Type

OBSERVATIONAL

Enrollment

Conditions

Healthy

Interventions

Satiety StateBEHAVIORAL

Participants were scanned twice: once after a meal and once after fasting for 24 hours

Eligibility

Sex: FEMALEMin age: 18 YearsMax age: 45 YearsHealthy volunteers:

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * BMI \<25 kg/m² and \>18.5 kg/m² * no lifetime or current medical illness that could potentially affect appetite or body weight * right-handedness * normal or corrected-to-normal vision Exclusion Criteria: * history of head injury or surgery * history of neurological disorder * severe psychiatric disorder (psychosis, bipolar disorder, substance abuse) * smoking * borderline personality disorder * current psychotropic medication * inability to undergo fMRI scanning (e.g. metallic implants, claustrophobia, Pacemakers) * pregnancy

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Experimental fMRI task (incentive delay task)

Participants were expecting food and monetary related reward, after a correct response to a simple task they received either food or monetary related reward.

Time frame: 22 min.

Resting state brain activity using functional magnetic resonance imaging

Functional brain imaging will be employed to assess functional connectivity in reward related brain networks.

Time frame: 5 min.

Secondary Outcomes

Analysis of hormonal satiety signaling

Blood is collected for the measurement of peripheral ghrelin. One blood sample at the start of the experiment will be collected.

Time frame: 30 min. before scanning

Self-report questionnaire regarding eating behavior (Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire)

Psychometric tests will be employed to assess eating behavior and eating disorder psychopathology (using the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire).

Time frame: 30 min.

Data from ClinicalTrials.gov

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