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New achievements within structural and functional imaging of central nervous system offer a basis for better understanding of the mechanisms underlying many mental disorders. In everyday clinical practice, we encounter many difficulties in the therapy of eating disorders. They are caused by a complex psychopathological picture, varied grounds of the problems experienced by patients, often poor motivation for active participation in the treatment process, difficulties in communication between patients and therapeutic staff, and various biological conditions of eating disorders. In this paper, the latest reports on new concepts and methods of diagnosis and treatment of anorexia nervosa have been analyzed. The selection of the analyzed publications was based on the criteria taking into account the time of publication, the size of research cohorts, as well as the experience of research teams in the field of nutritional disorders, confirmed by the number of works and their citations. The work aims to spread current information on anorexia nervosa neurobiology that would allow for determining the brain regions involved in the regulation of food intake, and consequently that may be a potential place where neurobiochemical processes responsible for eating disorders occur. In addition, using modern methods of structural imaging, the authors want to show some of the morphometric variations, particularly within white matter, occurring in patients suffering from anorexia nervosa, as well as those evaluated with magnetoencephalography of processes associated with the neuronal processing of information related to food intake. For example as regards anorexia nervosa, it was possible to localize the areas associated with eating disorders and broaden our knowledge about the changes in these areas that cause and accompany the illness. The described in this paper research studies using diffusion MRI fiber tractography showed the presence of changes in the white matter pathways of the brain, especially in the corpus callosum, which indicate a reduced content of myelin. These changes probably reflect malnutrition, and directly represent the effect of lipid deficiency. This leads to a weakening of the structure, and even cell death. In addition, there are more and more reports that show the normal volume of brain cells in patients with long-term remission of anorexia. It was also shown that in patients in remission stage there are functional changes within the amygdala in response to a task not related symptomatologically with anorexia nervosa. The appearing in the scientific literature data stating that in patients with anorexia nervosa there is a reduced density of GFAP + cells of the hippocampus and increased expression of vimentin and nestin, is also worth noting.

Despite the increasing offer of antipsychotic drugs, the effectiveness of pharmacotherapy in schizophrenia is still unsatisfactory. Drug resistance, lack of complete remission and the increasing risk of metabolic complications are the reasons why the new forms of therapy in schizophrenia among which unsaturated essential fatty acids omega 3 (EFAs ω-3) affecting the proper functioning of nervous system, are mentioned, are being looked for. Fatty acids represent 50-60% of the dry weight of the brain and diet is one of the factors that influence the value of each of the fat fractions in the neuron membranes. Patients with schizophrenia tend to have irregular nutritional status concerning essential fatty acids ω-3, which might result from metabolic disorders or irregular consumption of fatty acids. Apart from being a review of the literature on this subject, this very paper characterizes essential fatty acids ω-3, their metabolism, the most important sources in the diet and the opinions of experts in the field about the recommended intake. It pays attention to the role of essential fatty acids in both the structure and functioning of the central nervous system is, as well as their role in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia, with particular emphasis on the membrane concept by David Horrobin. The assessment of the errors in consumption and metabolism of essential fatty acids are described as well. The evidence was found both in epidemiological and modeling studies. It supports the participation of EFAs in etiopathogenesis and pathophysiology of schizophrenia. Further research is needed, both observational and interventional, as to the role of essential fatty acids ω-3 in the functioning of the CNS as well as the development and course of schizophrenia.