Scientific Reports (Jul 2020)

The associations of BMI with mean diffusivity of basal ganglia among young adults with mild obesity and without obesity

  • Hikarua Takeuchi,
  • Yasuyuki Taki,
  • Rui Nouchi,
  • Ryoichi Yokoyama,
  • Seishu Nakagawa,
  • Kunio Iizuka,
  • Kohei Sakaki,
  • Tsuyoshi Araki,
  • Takayuki Nozawa,
  • Shigeyuki Ikeda,
  • Susumu Yokota,
  • Sugiko Hanawa,
  • Daniele Magistro,
  • Yuka Kotozaki,
  • Yukako Sasaki,
  • Kelssy H. dos S. Kawata,
  • Ryuta Kawashima

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-69438-5
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 10, no. 1
pp. 1 – 8

Abstract

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Abstract Obesity causes a wide range of systemic diseases and is associated with mood and anxiety disorders. It is also associated with dopaminergic reward system function. However, the relationships between microstructural properties of the dopaminergic system and body mass index (BMI) have not been investigated. In this study, we investigated the associations of BMI with mean diffusivity (MD), diffusion tensor imaging measure in areas of the dopaminergic system (MDDS) in 435 healthy young adults with mild obesity and without obesity (BMI < 40). We detected the association between greater BMI and lower MD of the right globus pallidus and the right putamen. These results suggest that the property of the dopaminergic system is associated with BMI among young adults with mild obesity and without obesity.