Trial reportPsychological medicine2023
The effects of acute tryptophan depletion on instrumental reward learning in anorexia nervosa - an fMRI study.
Trial report in Psychological medicine, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
The trial behind it
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Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 11 citations in OpenAlex.
- Differential Associations of Dopamine and Serotonin With Reward and Punishment Processes in Humans: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.JAMA psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Transdiagnostic Neurobiological and Nutritional Factors in Eating Disorders: Implications for Integrative Treatment Models.Nutrients · 2026Review
- Reinforcement Learning and Decision Making in Anorexia Nervosa.Current psychiatry reports · 2025Review
- Psychedelics and Eating Disorders: Exploring the Therapeutic Potential for Anorexia Nervosa and Beyond.ACS pharmacology & translational science · 2025Review
- Neuroimaging studies of resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging in eating disorders.BMC medical imaging · 2024Review
- Psilocybin therapy for females with anorexia nervosa: a phase 1, open-label feasibility study.Nature medicine · 2023Article
- Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe serotonin (5-HT) hypothesis of anorexia nervosa (AN) posits that individuals predisposed toward or recovered from AN (recAN) have a central nervous hyperserotonergic state and therefore restrict food intake as a means to reduce 5-HT availability (via diminished tryptophan-derived precursor supply) and alleviate associated negative mood states. Importantly, the 5-HT system has also been generally implicated in reward processing, which has also been shown to be altered in AN.
methodsIn this double-blind crossover study, 22 individuals recAN and 25 healthy control participants (HC) underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while performing an established instrumental reward learning paradigm during acute tryptophan depletion (ATD; a dietary intervention that lowers central nervous 5-HT availability) as well as a sham depletion.
resultsOn a behavioral level, the main effects of reward and ATD were evident, but no group differences were found. fMRI analyses revealed a group × ATD × reward level interaction in the ventral anterior insula during reward anticipation as well as in the medial orbitofrontal cortex during reward consumption. DISCUSSION: The precise pattern of results is suggestive of a 'normalization' of reward-related neural responses during ATD in recAN compared to HC. Our results lend further evidence to the 5-HT hypothesis of AN. Decreasing central nervous 5-HT synthesis and availability during ATD and possibly also by dieting may be a means to normalize 5-HT availability and associated brain processes.
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Registered trials
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.