Deactivation of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in Prader–Willi syndrome after meal consumption

Background/Objectives: Prader–Willi syndrome (PWS) is a type of human genetic obesity that may give us information regarding the physiology of non-syndromic obesity. The objective of this study was to investigate the functional correlates of hunger and satiety in individuals with PWS in comparison with healthy controls with obesity, hypothesizing that we would see significant differences in activation in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) based on prior findings. Subjects/Methods: This study compared the central effects of food consumption in nine individuals with PWS (7 men, 2 women; body fat 35.3±10.0%) and seven controls (7 men; body fat 28.8±7.6%), matched for percentage body fat. H 2 15 O-PET (positron emission tomography) scans were performed before and after consumption of a standardized liquid meal to obtain quantitative measures of regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF), a marker of neuronal activity. Results: Compared with obese controls, PWS showed altered ( P