The Effect of iTBS on the Inhibition Control Function of BN

Bulimia nervosa(BN) is a chronic and refractory mental disorder characteristic of recurrent binge eating and weight control which mostly occur in adolescents and young women. The life-time prevalence ranges from 1.0%-4.2%, and keep increasing. Pathological out-of-control behavior is the core clinical symptom of BN. Impulsive personality trait is an important risk factor for overeating symptoms in patients with BN. Inhibition control dysfunction leads to increased impulsiveness, while impaired goal-oriented control leads to rigid behavior habits, such as obsessive-compulsive drug-seeking and drug use, resulting in pathological out-of-control behavior. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is a non-invasive, safe and non-invasive physical intervention and nerve stimulation, which can be targeted at specific brain regions or networks, providing hope for people who do not respond well to drug therapy. iTBS stimulation mode can induce long-term potentiation of behavior and neural activity (LTP). Previous studies indicated that dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (DMPFC) were associated with out-of-control behavior. In this study, the investigators will recruit 90 BN patients, would randomly divided into 30 DMPFC iTBS intervention group, 30 DLPFC iTBS and 30 sham-stimulation group. 20 iTBS will be given in the intervention group at DMPFC or DLPFC. To assess the eating disorder symptoms, impulsive and emotional change, clinical symptom scales, psychological scales and the behavioral experiments will be used at baseline, 4 weeks, 8 weeks, 12 weeks and16weeks, respectively. Furthermore, brain MRI will be used for BN at baseline. This study is innovative and feasible. If the expected results can be obtained, it will lay a foundation for understanding the common mechanism behind the pathological behavior of BN and provide new directions and ideas for the design of effective intervention measures.