ArticlePsychological medicine2023
Serum neurofilament light concentrations are associated with cortical thinning in anorexia nervosa.
Article 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.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 11 citations in OpenAlex.
- Nutritional state-dependent changes in subcortical limbic structures in anorexia nervosa are linked to leptin, ghrelin, and neurofilament light.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026Article
- Exploring serum biomarkers in paediatric psychiatry: the impact of NfL and GFAP.Translational psychiatry · 2026Article
- Dynamic white matter microstructure in anorexia nervosa: associations with neurofilament light and leptin across early weight restoration.Research square · 2026Article
- Elevated neurofilament light levels in acute anorexia nervosa are associated with alterations in white matter volume and connectivity networks.Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines · 2026Article
- Increased Serum Neurofilament Light Chain Concentration Associated With Microglial Morphology Changes in Chronically-Starved Mice.The International journal of eating disorders · 2025Article
- Effect of serum concentrations of IL-6 and TNF-α on brain structure in anorexia nervosa: a combined cross-sectional and longitudinal study.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2024Article
- Introducing neurofilament light chain measure in psychiatry: current evidence, opportunities, and pitfalls.Molecular psychiatry · 2024Review
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Authors and funding
13 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
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Abstract
backgroundAnorexia nervosa (AN) is characterized by severe emaciation and drastic reductions of brain mass, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. The present study investigated the putative association between the serum-based protein markers of brain damage neurofilament light (NF-L), tau protein, and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and cortical thinning in acute AN.
methodsBlood samples and magnetic resonance imaging scans were obtained from 52 predominantly adolescent, female patients with AN before and after partial weight restoration (increase in body mass index >14%). The effect of marker levels before weight gain and change in marker levels on cortical thickness (CT) was modeled at each vertex of the cortical surface using linear mixed-effect models. To test whether the observed effects were specific to AN, follow-up analyses exploring a potential general association of marker levels with CT were conducted in a female healthy control (HC) sample (
resultsIn AN, higher baseline levels of NF-L, an established marker of axonal damage, were associated with lower CT in several regions, with the most prominent clusters located in bilateral temporal lobes. Tau protein and GFAP were not associated with CT. In HC, no associations between damage marker levels and CT were detected.
conclusionsA speculative interpretation would be that cortical thinning in acute AN might be at least partially a result of axonal damage processes. Further studies should thus test the potential of serum NF-L to become a reliable, low-cost and minimally invasive marker of structural brain alterations in AN.
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