New behavioural models to investigate eating disorders
Abstract
The rapid increase of obesity has encouraged the study of the aetiology of eating disorders. Besides genetic, social and metabolic factors, obesity is caused by over-eating and has high rate of relapse to abnormal food-taking habits, which is mainly provoked by food-associated cues. High-palatable food intake shares similarities with the consumption of addictive drugs since it engages brain reward systems and produces comparable behavioural adaptations. However, the mechanism of the transition from normal food consumption to pathological over-eating remains obscure. Animal models are crucial to study the underlying mechanisms and are also excellent tools to facilitate the research of new pharmacological targets and to evaluate the benefit/risk ratio of potential novel treatments. We have focussed our research in the study of novel potential targets for eating disorders using new animal models developed in our laboratory. Firstly, we investigated the effects of the chronic blockade of the endocannabinoid system as anti-obesity treatment in a novel model of diet-induced obese rats and the role of the endocannabinoid system on cognitive processes and metabolism in mice using new behavioural devices. Secondly, we validated new sophisticated behavioural models of relapse and frustration in mice to investigate these key elements in the development of overeating.
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Evidence Hub reads this as a thesis, done in animal, not in people. Its evidence level is 5 of 5 (Very low · case / narrative / animal / in vitro / in silico). Case reports, narrative reviews, and animal, cell or computer-model studies give the weakest evidence for human health.
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