Heads Up
by Women’s Brain Health Initiative:
EMERGING BRAIN HEALTH RESEARCHERS.
It is well known that eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa are more common among women than men. Less well known is the deadly impact. According to the National Initiative for Eating Disorders (NIED), eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness in Canada.
The causes have often been attributed to societal pressures that promote a particular viewpoint of body image, pressures now magnified by the firehose of pictures and influences delivered by social media to young people.
Dr. Lindsay Bodell wants to find out if there is something else at work, whether there are clues to be found in the structure of young brains.
“We’re interested in understanding why some individuals are more sensitive to these environmental cues and pressures. And perhaps help explain who’s more at risk for eating disorders,” said Dr. Bodell, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at Western University.
Supported by funding from Brain Canada’s Future Leaders in Canadian Brain Research Program, she is carrying out a study that seeks to learn more about the brains of adolescent girls. Dr. Bodell and her colleagues hope to recruit 90 girls aged 13-18, half of whom are coping with some kind of eating disorder or struggling with body image issues.
While participants are undergoing brain scans, they will receive feedback about how other kids “rate” them – that is, whether peers are open to creating friendships or not. Knowing that acceptance or rejection can have a powerful impact on teenagers, the researchers will observe how the girls’ brains react to these stimuli and how brain responses may relate to eating disorder symptoms. Future research projects will likely bring in male participants to consider why the prevalence of eating disorders varies between the sexes.
IF WE DO FIND THAT INDIVIDUALS WITH EATING DISORDERS HAVE SPECIFIC BRAIN PATTERNS THAT MIGHT IMPLY THAT THEY’RE MORE SENSITIVE TO SOCIAL ENVIRONMENTS, THEN THOSE FINDINGS COULD HAVE VERY IMPORTANT IMPLICATIONS FOR EATING DISORDER TREATMENT AND PREVENTION.
“The funding from Brain Canada is essential to doing this work,” Dr. Bodell continued in an interview with Mind Over Matter®.
Since the Future Leaders program was launched in 2019, anchored by a lead gift from the Azrieli Foundation, Brain Canada has awarded $6 million through 60 grants. Brain Canada’s President and CEO, Dr. Viviane Poupon, said they are building upon Canada’s pre-eminent position as one of the world’s five most active countries in neuroscience.
“From studying gene therapy for Huntington’s disease, to examining the brain structures behind eating disorders in adolescents, to fighting memory loss, these early-career Canadian researchers will continue to contribute to major scientific advancements in brain science that will further the field both nationally and internationally,” said Dr. Poupon.
She added that the ultimate goal of Brain Canada’s Future Leaders in Canadian Brain Research Program is to reduce the social and economic burden of neurological and mental health problems through prevention, early diagnosis, and treatment.
“Brain Canada is certainly a great funding opportunity for early career researchers,” said Dr. Ashlyn Swift-Gallant, another recipient. “It’s very difficult at the early stages of your career to get funds to pursue new lines of investigation without preliminary data that often takes years to collect.”
Dr. Swift-Gallant, an Assistant Professor in Memorial University’s Department of Psychology, is examining sex differences in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a condition that is four times more common in males than females.
Using mouse models, she and her colleagues will manipulate sensitivity to the hormone androgen, which is typically higher in males than females. They will eliminate receptors for androgen in select cells in the brains of male mice and increase them in females and then observe any impact on autism-like behaviours. In other words, will suppressing “male” hormones make the mice less likely to have ASD-like behaviours?
WE WANT TO UNCOVER WHETHER SEX DIFFERENCES IN OUR BIOLOGY CONTRIBUTE TO THE GREATER RISK OF DEVELOPING AUTISM IN MALES COMPARED TO FEMALES.
Dr. Swift-Gallant continued: “It’s a starting point to try to understand the biology behind ASD. If we find a role for these sex hormones, then we may be able to alter sensitivity to sex hormones like androgens, in particular brain cells, to decrease risk of developing the condition or mitigate the more severe symptoms. We have a long way to go. But Brain Canada funds will allow us to take a step towards understanding how this condition develops and how to treat both males and females with ASD.”
Another recipient of a Future Leaders grant, Dr. Michèle Desjardins, is also using mice to learn more about our brains. In her case, the goal is to expand our knowledge of how our brains evolve as we age.
“In aging we know that there is some sort of cognitive decline happening but we’re not sure where it starts. We know that both neurons and blood vessels are affected, but we don’t know which is first,” Dr. Desjardins said in an interview with Mind Over Matter®.
An Associate Professor in the Department of Physics, Physical Engineering, and Optics at Université Laval, she is leveraging innovative imaging tools, including two-photon microscopy, a technology that allows researchers to clearly view single neurons and single blood vessels, along with wide field imaging, which captures views of the entire surface of the brain. The goal is to get a sense of the activity of neurons and blood flow.
She will be observing changes in the brains of mice as they age. Given that the rodents’ typical lifespan is only about two years, it means following them from middle age to death. Understanding that aging may affect males and females differently, she and her team will study mice from both sexes and consider sex as a variable when they analyze the data.
DESJARDINS’ HYPOTHESIS IS THAT BLOOD VESSELS ARE AFFECTED BEFORE NEURONS. IF CONFIRMED BY THE RESEARCH IT WOULD NOT ONLY INCREASE OUR FUNDAMENTAL KNOWLEDGE OF THE PROCESS OF AGING, BUT FARTHER DOWN THE LINE WOULD HAVE MORE DIRECT BENEFITS.
“It could help target interventions to promote health in aging people,” she said. Dr. Desjardins is grateful to Brain Canada for making her project possible.
“It’s more difficult when starting your career to get this kind of large grant. To have this amount of money is really helpful. It helps pay the scholarships for students who are doing the research. It’s really important.”