Yuri Okamoto

Publications (11)30.35 Total impact

• Article: Brain activation during the perception of stressful word stimuli concerning interpersonal relationships in anorexia nervosa patients with high degrees of alexithymia in an fMRI paradigm.

  Yoshie Miyake, Yasumasa Okamoto, Keiichi Onoda, Naoko Shirao, Yuri Okamoto, Shigeto Yamawaki
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  ABSTRACT: Several studies have reported that anorexia nervosa (AN) patients have high levels of alexithymia. However, relatively little is known about the underlying neurobiological relationships between alexithymia and AN. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine the brain responses in 30 AN patients and 20 healthy women during the processing of negative words concerning interpersonal relationships. We investigated the relationship between alexithymia levels and brain activation in AN. AN patients showed significant activation of the orbitofrontal cortex, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and medial prefrontal cortex while processing negative words concerning interpersonal relationships, as compared to the processing of neutral words. Moreover, the subjective rating of unpleasantness with negative words and neural activities in the amygdala, posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) negatively correlated with the level of alexithymia in AN. Our neuroimaging results suggest that AN patients tend to cognitively process negative words concerning interpersonal relationships, resulting in activation of the prefrontal cortex. Lower activation of the amygdala, PCC and ACC in response to these words may contribute to the impairments of emotional processing that are hallmarks of alexithymia. Functional abnormalities associated with alexithymia may be involved in the emotional processing impairments in AN patients.
  Psychiatry Research 03/2012; 201(2):113-9. · 2.52 Impact Factor
• Article: No association of brain-derived neurotrophic factor Val66Met polymorphism with anorexia nervosa in Japanese.

  Tetsuya Ando, Toshio Ishikawa, Mari Hotta, Tetsuro Naruo, Kenjiro Okabe, Toshihiro Nakahara, Masato Takii, Keisuke Kawai, Takashi Mera, Chiemi Nakamoto, [......], Toshihiko Nagata, Yuri Okamoto, Kazuyoshi Ookuma, Masanori Koide, Takao Yamanaka, Shiho Murata, Naho Tamura, Nobuo Kiriike, Yuhei Ichimaru, Gen Komaki
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  ABSTRACT: The Met66 allele of the Val66Met polymorphism in the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) gene has been reported to be associated with anorexia nervosa (AN), and also lower minimum body mass index (BMI) and higher harm avoidance in AN. We genotyped the Val66Met polymorphism (rs6265) in 689 AN cases and 573 control subjects. There were no significant differences in the genotype or allele frequencies of the Val66Met between AN and control subjects (allele wise, odds ratio = 0.920, 95% CI 0.785-1.079, P = 0.305). No difference was found in minimum BMIs related to Val66Met in AN (one-way ANOVA, P > 0.05). Harm avoidance scores on the Temperament and Character Inventory were lower in the Met66 allele carriers (P = 0.0074) contrary to the previous report. Thus we were unable to replicate the previous findings that the Met66 allele of the BDNF is associated with AN and that the minimum BMI is lower or the harm avoidance score is higher in AN patients with the Met66 allele.
  American Journal of Medical Genetics Part B Neuropsychiatric Genetics 11/2011; 159B(1):48-52. · 3.70 Impact Factor
• Article: A ghrelin gene variant may predict crossover rate from restricting-type anorexia nervosa to other phenotypes of eating disorders: a retrospective survival analysis.

  Tetsuya Ando, Gen Komaki, Hiroki Nishimura, Tetsuro Naruo, Kenjiro Okabe, Keisuke Kawai, Masato Takii, Takakazu Oka, Naoki Kodama, Chiemi Nakamoto, [......], Yoshikatsu Nakai, Masanori Koide, Nobuyuki Kobayashi, Nobuo Kurokawa, Toshihiko Nagata, Nobuo Kiriike, Yoshito Takenaka, Kiyohide Nagamine, Kazuyoshi Ookuma, Shiho Murata
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  ABSTRACT: Patients with anorexia nervosa restricting type (AN-R) often develop bulimic symptoms and crossover to AN-binge eating/purging type (AN-BP), or to bulimia nervosa (BN). We have reported earlier that genetic variants of an orexigenic peptide ghrelin are associated with BN. Here, the relationship between a ghrelin gene variant and the rate of change from AN-R to other phenotypes of eating disorders (EDs) was investigated. Participants were 165 patients with ED, initially diagnosed as AN-R. The dates of their AN-R onset and changes in diagnosis to other subtypes of ED were investigated retrospectively. Ghrelin gene 3056 T-->C SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism) was genotyped. Probability and hazard ratios were analyzed using life table analysis and Cox's proportional hazard regression model, in which the starting point was the time of AN-R onset and the outcome events were the time of (i) onset of binge eating, that is, when patients changed to binge eating AN and BN and (ii) recovery of normal weight, that is, when patients changed to BN or remission. Patients with the TT genotype at 3056 T-->C had a higher probability and hazard ratio for recovery of normal weight. The ghrelin SNP was not related with the onset of binge eating. The 3056 T-->C SNP of the ghrelin gene is related to the probability and the rate of recovery of normal body weight from restricting-type AN.
  Psychiatric genetics 08/2010; 20(4):153-9. · 2.33 Impact Factor
• Article: Neural processing of negative word stimuli concerning body image in patients with eating disorders: an fMRI study.

  Yoshie Miyake, Yasumasa Okamoto, Keiichi Onoda, Naoko Shirao, Yuri Okamoto, Yoko Otagaki, Shigeto Yamawaki
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  ABSTRACT: Eating disorders (EDs) are associated with abnormalities of body image perception. The aim of the present study was to investigate the functional abnormalities in brain systems during processing of negative words concerning body images in patients with EDs. Brain responses to negative words concerning body images (task condition) and neutral words (control condition) were measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging in 36 patients with EDs (12 with the restricting type anorexia nervosa; AN-R, 12 with the binging-purging type anorexia nervosa; AN-BP, and 12 with bulimia nervosa; BN) and 12 healthy young women. Participants were instructed to select the most negative word from each negative body-image word set and to select the most neutral word from each neutral word set. In the task relative to the control condition, the right amygdala was activated both in patients with AN-R and in patients with AN-BP. The left medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) was activated both in patients with BN and in patients with AN-BP. It is suggested that these brain activations may be associated with abnormalities of body image perception. Amygdala activation may be involved in fearful emotional processing of negative words concerning body image and strong fears of gaining weight. One possible interpretation of the finding of mPFC activation is that it may reflect an attempt to regulate the emotion invoked by the stimuli. These abnormal brain functions may help provide better accounts of the psychopathological mechanisms underlying EDs.
  NeuroImage 04/2010; 50(3):1333-9. · 5.89 Impact Factor
• Article: Brain activation during the perception of distorted body images in eating disorders.

  Yoshie Miyake, Yasumasa Okamoto, Keiichi Onoda, Mitsuhaya Kurosaki, Naoko Shirao, Yuri Okamoto, Shigeto Yamawaki
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  ABSTRACT: Eating disorder (ED) patients have severe disturbances in the perception of body shape and weight. The authors investigated brain activation patterns during the perception of distorted body images in various subtypes of ED. Participants comprised 33 patients with EDs (11 with restricting-type anorexia nervosa (AN-R), 11 with binging-purging type anorexia nervosa (AN-BP), 11 with bulimia nervosa (BN)) and 11 healthy women. Functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to examine cerebral response to morphed images of subjects' own bodies, as well as that of another woman. The amygdala was significantly activated in AN-R patients, AN-BP patients, and healthy women in response to their own fat-image, but this did not occur in BN patients. The prefrontal cortex (PFC) was significantly activated in AN-BP patients and healthy women, but not in AN-R and BN patients. Our results showed that the various EDs are different with respect to significant activation of the amygdala and PFC during the processing of participants' own fat-image. Brain activation pattern differences between the various EDs may underlie cognitive differences with respect to distorted body image, and therefore might reflect a general failure to represent and evaluate one's own body in a realistic fashion.
  Psychiatry Research 02/2010; 181(3):183-92. · 2.52 Impact Factor
• Article: [Eating disorders: the latest in their physiopathology, diagnosis and treatment].

  Nobuo Kiriike, Yuri Okamoto
  Seishin shinkeigaku zasshi = Psychiatria et neurologia Japonica 01/2010; 112(8):734-5.
• Article: [Cognitive function in eating disorders and therapeutic approach].

  Yuri Okamoto, Yoshie Miyake, Naoko Shirao, Yasumasa Okamoto, Shigeto Yamawaki
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  ABSTRACT: We examined brain activation in the presence of eating disorders while processing unpleasant words concerning body images using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Anorexia nervosa restricting type (AN-R) and anorexia nervosa binge-eating/ purging type (AN-BP) patients showed significant amygdala activation. Farther, AN-BP and bulimia nervosa (BN) patients showed significant medial prefrontal cortex activation. Next, we conducted short-term integrated group therapy for eating disorders. After treatment, depressive scores of POMS and emotional-oriented coping scores of CISS were significantly decreased, and EAT scores and self-esteem scores of RSES were significantly increased.
  Seishin shinkeigaku zasshi = Psychiatria et neurologia Japonica 01/2010; 112(8):741-9.
• Source

  Available from: PubMed Central

  Article: Psychological and weight-related characteristics of patients with anorexia nervosa-restricting type who later develop bulimia nervosa.

  Hiroki Nishimura, Gen Komaki, Tetsuya Ando, Toshihiro Nakahara, Takakazu Oka, Keisuke Kawai, Toshihiko Nagata, Aya Nishizono, Yuri Okamoto, Kenjiro Okabe, Masanori Koide, Chikara Yamaguchi, Satoshi Saito, Kazuyoshi Ohkuma, Katsutaro Nagata, Tetsuro Naruo, Masato Takii, Nobuo Kiriike, Toshio Ishikawa
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  ABSTRACT: Patients with anorexia nervosa-restricting type (AN-R) sometimes develop accompanying bulimic symptoms or the full syndrome of bulimia nervosa (BN). If clinicians could predict who might change into the bulimic sub-type or BN, preventative steps could be taken. Therefore, we investigated anthropometric and psychological factors possibly associated with such changes. All participants were from a study by the Japanese Genetic Research Group for Eating Disorders. Of 80 patients initially diagnosed with AN-R, 22 changed to the AN-Binge Eating/Purging Type (AN-BP) and 14 to BN for some period of time. The remaining 44 patients remained AN-R only from the onset to the investigation period. Variables compared by ANOVA included anthropometric measures, personality traits such as Multiple Perfectionism Scale scores and Temperament and Character Inventory scores, and Beck Depression Inventory-II scores. In comparison with AN-R only patients, those who developed BN had significantly higher current BMI (p < 0.05) and maximum BMI in the past (p < 0.05). They also scored significantly higher for the psychological characteristic of parental criticism (p < 0.05) and lower in self-directedness (p < 0.05), which confirms previous reports, but these differences disappeared when the depression score was used as a co-variant. No significant differences were obtained for personality traits or depression among the AN-R only patients irrespective of their duration of illness. The present findings suggest a tendency toward obesity among patients who cross over from AN-R to BN. Low self-directedness and high parental criticism may be associated with the development of BN by patients with AN-R, although the differences may also be associated with depression.
  BioPsychoSocial Medicine 01/2008; 2:5.
• Article: Gender differences in brain activity generated by unpleasant word stimuli concerning body image: an fMRI study.

  Naoko Shirao, Yasumasa Okamoto, Tomoyuki Mantani, Yuri Okamoto, Shigeto Yamawaki
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  ABSTRACT: We have previously reported that the temporomesial area, including the amygdala, is activated in women when processing unpleasant words concerning body image. To detect gender differences in brain activation during processing of these words. Functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to investigate 13 men and 13 women during an emotional decision task consisting of unpleasant words concerning body image and neutral words. The left medial prefrontal cortex and hippocampus were activated only among men, and the left amygdala was activated only among women during the task; activation in the apical prefrontal region was significantly greater in men than in women. Our data suggest that the prefrontal region is responsible for the gender differences in the processing of words concerning body image, and may also be responsible for gender differences in susceptibility to eating disorders.
  The British Journal of Psychiatry 02/2005; 186:48-53. · 6.62 Impact Factor
• Article: Temporomesial activation in young females associated with unpleasant words concerning body image.

  Naoko Shirao, Yasumasa Okamoto, Go Okada, Yuri Okamoto, Shigeto Yamawaki
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  ABSTRACT: Previous behavioral studies suggest that people who have an abnormal eating behavior may perceive information concerning body image distortion more aversively than others. We performed a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study on 15 young women, using an emotional decision task including unpleasant words concerning body image and neutral words. The left amygdala and right parahippocampal gyrus were activated by unpleasant words concerning body image relative to neutral words. In addition, activation of the right parahippocampal gyrus was negatively correlated with the severity of psychological and behavioral problems assessed by the Eating Disorder Inventory-2. This activation also positively correlated with the subjects' rating of pleasantness of words concerning body image. These results demonstrated that the temporomesial area plays an important role in the perception of unpleasant words concerning body image. In particular, it is suggested that the right parahippocampal gyrus may be associated with subjective sensitivity to unpleasant information concerning body image.
  Neuropsychobiology 02/2003; 48(3):136-42. · 2.67 Impact Factor
• Article: The relationship of the platelet 5-HT-induced calcium response to clinical symptoms in eating disorders

  Yuri Okamoto, Yasumasa Okamoto, Ariyuki Kagaya, J. Horiguchi, S. Yamawaki
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  ABSTRACT: Clinical observations indicate that persons with eating disorders exhibit many psychopathologic symptoms such as difficulty with impulse control and depressed mood associated with impaired regulation of serotonin (5-HT) synaptic function in the central nervous system. In this study, we focused on the relationship between the 5-HT-induced calcium response in platelets and the clinical symptoms. While age, body weight, and severity of depressive symptoms were not correlated with 5-HT-induced response, there was an enhanced response in patients with bulimic symptoms or other impulsive behaviors. Moreover, patients with multi-impulsive behaviors had a significantly higher maximal increase than patients with uni-impulsive behavior, i.e., those who had only bulimic symptoms, as well as non-impulsive patients, and controls. Considering these results, the 5-HT-induced response may be related to difficulty with impulse control in general rather than bulimic eating attitudes specifically.
  Psychopharmacologia 02/1999; 142(3):289-294. · 4.08 Impact Factor