Definitions
Anorexia Nervosa (AN) is a serious eating disorder in which individuals persistently restrict food intake resulting in severely reduced body weight. Individuals with AN typically exhibit disordered cognitive perceptions about body shape and weight along with intense fears of gaining weight or becoming fat. The onset of AN most commonly occurs during adolescence amidst ongoing structural brain maturation. Neuroimaging studies utilizing computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in low weight patients with AN have demonstrated structural brain changes that include reduced brain volume affecting both gray and white matter. Brain tissue volume segmentation has suggested that much of the reduction in brain volume in AN may be related to reduced white matter volume (Swayze et al. 2003).
White matterrefers to neural tissue comprised of myelinated axons. Axons are the long, slender projections that arise from neuronal cell bodies that transmit electrochemical...
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Travis, K., Golden, N.H. (2017). Adolescent Anorexia Nervosa, Abnormal White Matter Properties in. In: Wade, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Feeding and Eating Disorders. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-104-6_206
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-104-6_206
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