Steward, TrevorMestre Bach, GemmaGranero, RoserSánchez, IsabelRiesco, NadineVintró Alcaraz, CristinaSauchelli, SarahJiménez Murcia, SusanaAgüera, ZaidaFernández García, Jose C.Garrido Sánchez, LourdesTinahones Madueño, Francisco JoséCasanueva Freijo, FelipeBaños, Rosa M.Botella, CristinaCrujeiras Martínez, Ana BelénTorre, Rafael de laFernández Real, Jose M.Frühbeck, GemaOrtega, Francisco J.Rodríguez, AmaiaMenchón, José M.Fernández Aranda, Fernando2020-04-202020-04-202019-05-07Steward, T., Mestre-Bach, G., Granero, R. et al. Reduced Plasma Orexin-A Concentrations are Associated with Cognitive Deficits in Anorexia Nervosa. Sci Rep 9, 7910 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-44450-6http://hdl.handle.net/10347/21537Orexins/hypocretins are neuropeptides implicated in numerous processes, including food intake and cognition. The role of these peptides in the psychopathology of anorexia nervosa (AN) remains poorly understood. The aim of the current study was to evaluate the associations between plasma orexin-A (OXA) concentrations and neuropsychological functioning in adult women with AN, and a matched control group. Fasting plasma OXA concentrations were taken in 51 females with AN and in 51 matched healthy controls. Set-shifting was assessed using the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), whereas decision making was measured using the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). The AN group exhibited lower plasma OXA levels than the HC group. Lower mean scores were obtained on the IGT in AN patients. WCST perseverative errors were signifcantly higher in the AN group compared to HC. In both the AN and HC group, OXA levels were negatively correlated with WCST non-perseverative errors. Reduced plasma OXA concentrations were found to be associated with set-shifting impairments in AN. Taking into consideration the function of orexins in promoting arousal and cognitive fexibility, future studies should explore whether orexin partly underpins the cognitive impairments found in ANeng© The Author(s) 2019. Open Access. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Cognitive neuroscienceEndocrine system and metabolic diseasesPsychiatric disordersjournal article10.1038/s41598-019-44450-62045-2322open access