Evidence map›Paper›PMID 27207916›Full record

ArticleThe international journal of neuropsychopharmacology2016

Dissociated Accumbens and Hippocampal Structural Abnormalities across Obesity and Alcohol Dependence.

Tom B Mole, Elijah Mak, Yee Chien, Valerie Voon

Open access · goldAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in The international journal of neuropsychopharmacology, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
11citing papers in PubMed
2.0field-weighted citation impact, top 15% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

11 citing papers in PubMed, 25 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Neurobehavioral correlates of obesity are largely heritable.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2018
    Trial
  2. A ventral hippocampus to nucleus accumbens pathway regulates impulsivity in male but not female rats.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026
    Article
  3. A ventral hippocampus to nucleus accumbens pathway regulates impulsivity.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025
    Article
  4. Review
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Striatal volume and functional connectivity correlate with weight gain in early-phase psychosis.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2019
    Article
  8. Article
  9. Review
  10. Article
  11. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Tom B MoleDepartment of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, UK (Dr Mole, Mr Mak, Ms Chien, and Dr Voon); Behavioural and Clinical Neurosciences Institute, University of Cambridge, UK (Dr Voon). tm507@cam.ac.uk.
Elijah MakDepartment of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, UK (Dr Mole, Mr Mak, Ms Chien, and Dr Voon); Behavioural and Clinical Neurosciences Institute, University of Cambridge, UK (Dr Voon).
Yee ChienDepartment of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, UK (Dr Mole, Mr Mak, Ms Chien, and Dr Voon); Behavioural and Clinical Neurosciences Institute, University of Cambridge, UK (Dr Voon).
Valerie VoonDepartment of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, UK (Dr Mole, Mr Mak, Ms Chien, and Dr Voon); Behavioural and Clinical Neurosciences Institute, University of Cambridge, UK (Dr Voon).
Addenbrooke's Hospital · GBUniversity of Cambridge · GB

Funding

Wellcome Trust 093875
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundProcessing of food and drug rewards involves specific neurocircuitry, and emerging evidence implicates subcortical abnormalities, particularly the nucleus accumbens and hippocampus. We specifically hypothesized that these 2 established regions in addiction neurocircuitry are associated with distinctive in vivo structural abnormalities in obesity and alcohol dependence.

methodsTo specifically investigate anatomically discrete volumetric changes associated with overconsumption of different rewards, we acquired T1 MRI data from 118 subjects in 3 groups comprising obesity (n=42), alcohol dependence (n=32), and healthy volunteer controls (n=44). To exploit novel methods of automated hippocampal subfield segmentation, we used Freesurfer software to generate volumetric data in subject groups for the hippocampal subiculum and its major striatal efferent target, the nucleus accumbens. Hypothesis-led, selective group difference comparisons were analyzed.

resultsWe found markedly greater accumbens volumes (P=.002) and relatively preserved hippocampal subfield volumes in obesity. Conversely, in alcohol dependence, we found preserved accumbens volumes but atrophy of specific ventral hippocampal subfields, the subiculum and presubiculum. Smaller global subcortical gray-matter volume was found in the alcohol dependence group only.

conclusionsReward neurocircuitry including the accumbens and ventral hippocampus may show key structural abnormalities in disorders involving processing of both food and drug rewards, although the foci of disruption may vary as a function of reward modality. Structural differences may subserve altered reward and motivational processes in obesity and alcohol dependence and represent a potential biomarker for therapeutic targeting in key public health disorders.

Indexed as

accumbenshippocampusreward

Identifiers

PMID27207916
PMCPMC5043646
OpenAlexW2338954699

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.