Karlsson, H. K. | Search bioRxiv

bioRxiv2020

Mesolimbic opioid-dopamine interaction is disrupted in obesity but recovered by weight loss following bariatric surgery

BackgroundObesity is a growing burden to health and economy worldwide. Obesity is associated with central -opioid receptor (MOR) downregulation, and the interaction between MOR and dopamine D2 receptor (D2R) system in the ventral striatum is disrupted among obese subjects. Weight loss recovers MOR function, but it remains unknown whether it also recovers aberrant opioid-dopamine interaction. Here we addressed this issue by studying subjects undergoing surgical weight loss (bariatric surgery) procedure. MethodsWe recruited 20 healthy non-obese (mean BMI 22) and 25 morbidly obese women (mean BMI 41) eligible for bariatric surgery. Brain MOR and D2R availability was measured using positron emission tomography (PET) with [11C]carfentanil and [11C]raclopride, respectively. Either Roux-en-Y gastric bypass or sleeve gastrectomy was performed to obese subjects according to standard clinical treatment. 21 obese subjects participated in the postoperative PET scanning six months after bariatric surgery. ResultsIn the control subjects, MOR and D2R availabilities were associated in the ventral striatum (r = .62) and dorsal caudate (r = .61). Preoperatively, the obese subjects had disrupted association in the ventral striatum (r = .12) but unaltered association in dorsal caudate (r = .43). The association between MOR and D2R availabilities in the ventral striatum was recovered (r = .62) among obese subjects following the surgery-induced weight loss (mean total weight loss 22 %). ConclusionsBariatric surgery and concomitant weight loss recovers the interaction between MOR and D2R in the ventral striatum in the morbidly obese. Consequently, the dysfunctional opioid-dopamine interaction in the ventral striatum is likely associated with an obese phenotype and may mediate excessive energy uptake. Striatal opioid-dopamine interaction provides a feasible target for pharmacological and behavioural interventions for treating obesity. Clinical Trials RegistrationSleevePET2, NCT01373892, http://www.clinicaltrials.gov

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2020

Decoding music-evoked emotions in the auditory and motor cortex

Music can induce strong subjective experience of emotions, but it is debated whether these responses engage the same neural circuits as emotions elicited by biologically significant events. We examined the functional neural basis of music-induced emotions in a large sample (n=102) of subjects who listened to emotionally engaging (happy, sad, fearful, and tender) pieces of instrumental music while their haemodynamic brain activity was measured with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Ratings of the four categorical emotions and liking were used to predict haemodynamic responses in general linear model (GLM) analysis of the fMRI data. Multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) was used to reveal discrete neural signatures of the four categories of music-induced emotions. To map neural circuits governing non-musical emotions, the subjects were scanned while viewing short emotionally evocative film clips. The GLM revealed that most emotions were associated with activity in the auditory, somatosensory and motor cortices, cingulate gyrus, insula, and precuneus. Fear and liking also engaged the amygdala. In contrast, the film clips strongly activated limbic and cortical regions implicated in emotional processing. MVPA revealed that activity in the auditory cortex in particular as well as in the primary motor cortices reliably discriminated the emotion categories. Our results indicate that different music-induced basic emotions have distinct representations in regions supporting auditory processing, motor control, somatosensation and interoception but do not strongly rely on limbic and medial prefrontal regions critical for emotions with survival value.

neuroscience↗