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Glial and neuronal damage markers in patients with anorexia nervosa

  • Biological Child and Adolescent Psychiatry - Original Article
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Abstract

Anorexia nervosa (AN) commonly arises during adolescence leading to interruptions of somatic and psychological development as well as to atrophic brain changes. It remains unclear whether these brain changes are related to the loss of neurons, glia, neuropil or merely due to fluid shifts. We determined leptin levels and two brain-derived damage markers: glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and neuron-specific enolase (NSE) of 43 acute AN patients and 50 healthy control woman (HCW). Peripheral GFAP and NSE concentrations of AN patients were not elevated and not different from HCW. Subjects with particularly low leptin concentration, indicating severe malnutrition, did not show abnormal values either. During weight recovery the marker proteins remained unchanged. Our preliminary results are in line with neuroimaging studies supporting the reversibility of brain changes in AN and do not substantiate hypotheses relying on the extensive damage of brain cells as an explanation for cerebral atrophy in AN.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank R. Schott for help with the recruitment of the participants, L. Franke, Ph.D. for technical assistance and E. Pfeiffer, MD for help with the study design and critical reading of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, Charité, Universitätsmedizin Berlin, CVK, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353, Berlin, Germany

    Stefan Ehrlich, Roland Burghardt, Deike Weiss, Harriet Salbach-Andrae, Klaus Goldhahn & Ulrike Lehmkuhl

  2. Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, Charité, Universitätsmedizin Berlin, CCM, Berlin, Germany

    Eugenia Maria Craciun & Burghard F. Klapp

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  1. Stefan Ehrlich
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  2. Roland Burghardt
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Correspondence to Stefan Ehrlich.

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Ehrlich, S., Burghardt, R., Weiss, D. et al. Glial and neuronal damage markers in patients with anorexia nervosa. J Neural Transm 115, 921–927 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00702-008-0033-8

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