Resting state functional connectivity in anorexia nervosa Andrea Phillipou a,b,c,n , Larry Allen Abel a , David Jonathan Castle b,d,e , Matthew Edward Hughes f , Richard Grant Nibbs f , Caroline Gurvich g , Susan Lee Rossell d,f,g a Department of Optometry & Vision Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia b Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia c Department of Mental Health, The Austin Hospital, Melbourne, VIC, Australia d Department of Psychiatry, St Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne, VIC, Australia e Faculty of Health Sciences, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia f Brain and Psychological Sciences Research Centre, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, VIC, Australia g Monash Alfred Psychiatry Research Centre, Monash University and The Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, VIC, Australia article info Article history: Received 13 May 2015 Received in revised form 22 March 2016 Accepted 13 April 2016 Available online 19 April 2016 Keywords: Eating disorder FMRI Visuospatial processing Default mode network abstract Anorexia Nervosa (AN) is a serious psychiatric illness characterised by a disturbance in body image, a fear of weight gain and significantly low body weight. The factors involved in the genesis and maintenance of AN are unclear, though the potential neurobiological underpinnings of the condition are of increasing interest. Through the investigation of functional connectivity of the brain at rest, information relating to neuronal communication and integration of information that may relate to behaviours and cognitive symptoms can be explored. The aim of this study was to investigate functional connectivity of the default mode network, and sensorimotor and visual networks in AN. 26 females with AN and 27 healthy control participants matched for age, gender and premorbid intelligence underwent a resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging scan. Default mode network functional connectivity did not differ between groups. AN participants displayed reduced functional connectivity between the sensorimotor and visual networks, in comparison to healthy controls. This finding is discussed in terms of differences in vi- suospatial processing in AN and the distortion of body image experienced by these individuals. Overall, the findings suggest that sensorimotor and visual network connectivity may be related to visuospatial processing in AN, though, further research is required. & 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Anorexia Nervosa (AN) is a psychiatric condition characterised by significantly low body weight and a fear of weight gain. A disturbance in the experience of one's own body weight or shape is a core feature of the illness (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). AN has a mortality rate among the highest of any mental illness (Harris and Barraclough, 1998; Sullivan, 1995), thus, it is critical to gain a better understanding of the neurobiological basis of the illness which currently remains unclear. The potential neurobiological underpinnings of AN have typically been in- vestigated with the use of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), in which brain states evoked during an experimental and a control condition are compared, with the aim of elucidating task- specific activations. Recently, however, researchers have begun to investigate synchronous brain activity at rest to examine ‘functional connectivity’ between brain regions. The term ‘func- tional connectivity’ is used to signify the correlation of activity time courses between brain regions. The examination of functional connectivity at rest provides information about neuronal com- munication in the brain, and how integration of information may relate to behaviour (Van Den Heuvel and Hulshoff Pol, 2010). A number of resting state networks describing anatomically distinct but functionally connected brain regions have been iden- tified using fMRI. Of particular interest has been the default mode network, a network which is active when no cognitive tasks are undertaken, but whose activity is suspended during goal-directed behaviour (Raichle et al., 2001). Differences in default mode net- work connectivity, particularly reduced connectivity within the network, have been reported in a number of psychiatric illnesses, including schizophrenia (Rotarska-Jagiela et al., 2010), bipolar disorder (Öngür et al., 2010), major depressive disorder (Bluhm et al., 2009), obsessive compulsive disorder (Jang et al., 2010) and autism spectrum disorder (Monk et al., 2009). These findings have suggested that altered functional connectivity within this network may contribute to the clinical phenomenology and/or cognitive symptoms experienced in these conditions. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/psychresns Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pscychresns.2016.04.008 0925-4927/& 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. n Correspondence to: Department of Mental Health, St Vincent's Hospital, Fitzroy, VIC 3065, Australia. E-mail address: ap@unimelb.edu.au (A. Phillipou). Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging 251 (2016) 45–52