# Longitudinal Assessment of Neural Circuits in Adolescents with Anorexia Nervosa

> **NIH NIH R01** · NEW YORK STATE PSYCHIATRIC INSTITUTE DBA RESEARCH FOUNDATION FOR MENTAL HYGIENE, INC · 2020 · $718,585

## Abstract

Project Summary
Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a serious mental illness that confers the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric
disorder. Current treatments are inadequate and no pharmacologic agents have proven effective. A better
understanding of the development and pathophysiology of AN is greatly needed. We propose a longitudinal,
multimodal MRI study of reward and habit circuits in youth (ages 14-18) with AN, compared with age-matched
healthy controls (HC), followed over two years. We focus on adolescence because this is a critical, yet
understudied, period in AN. Pathological dieting typically emerges during adolescence, and the course of AN is
often determined during this period with approximately half of teens showing full recovery, whereas the rest
endure persistent illness. Understanding the neurobiological mechanisms by which some teens develop
persistent AN, while others remit, is critical to developing the most effective interventions.
Our study will examine neural mechanisms guiding food choice and neural connectivity in mesolimbic and
habit-related circuits among youth with AN who continue with illness compared with those who remit, and
compared with HC. We will examine these neural circuits at baseline and study their developmental trajectories.
Our Food Choice Task captures restrictive intake, a core behavioral disturbance in AN, and therefore we can
directly examine the link between brain activity and eating behavior. Using longitudinal, multimodal MRI at 3-
time points, we will first test whether the function and connectivity of mesolimbic reward and dorsal habit
circuits predict the longer-term course of AN. Second, we will examine longitudinal changes within these two
neural circuits of interest. We predict that at baseline, restrictive food choice in youth with AN will be mediated
by mesolimbic reward circuitry; however, at year-2 follow-up, in teens for whom the disorder persists, restrictive
food choice will be mediated by dorsal striatal habit circuitry. The study will (i) chart the developmental
trajectories of reward and habit circuits in youth with AN; (ii) advance our understanding of the mechanisms by
which AN persists to chronicity, and (iii) help develop targets for novel therapeutic strategies.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9917857
- **Project number:** 5R01MH110445-04
- **Recipient organization:** NEW YORK STATE PSYCHIATRIC INSTITUTE DBA RESEARCH FOUNDATION FOR MENTAL HYGIENE, INC
- **Principal Investigator:** Jonathan E Posner
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $718,585
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-04-07 → 2022-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9917857

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9917857, Longitudinal Assessment of Neural Circuits in Adolescents with Anorexia Nervosa (5R01MH110445-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9917857. Licensed CC0.

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