Fig. 1: Tractography-based vmPFC streamlines converging within the NAc shell, which has lower rsFC with the vmPFC of obese cohort.

A Group average streamline probability in normative dataset (n = 178) between the NAc and the vmPFC from lower (red) to higher (yellow); and B group average NAc shell (red) and core (blue) subregions in standard space based on the distribution of these streamlines in the normative data. Voxels present in less than 40% of the HCP subjects were excluded. C Significantly higher normalized streamline counts were also observed between the vmPFC and the right (U = 367; p < 0.001) and left (U = 363, p < 0.001) NAc shell as compared to the NAc core in the binge-prone cohort (n = 37). D The vmPFC-NAc shell rsFC was negatively correlated with BMI (rho = −0.36; p = 0.04) and E significantly lower in the obese participants (BMI ≥ 30; U = 149, p = 0.04).