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Food Seeking in Spite of Harmful Consequences

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Animal Models of Eating Disorders

Part of the book series: Neuromethods ((NM,volume 74))

Abstract

In industrialized nations, overeating is a significant problem leading to overweight, obesity, and a host of related disorders; the increase in these disorders has prompted a significant amount of research aimed at understanding their etiology. Eating disorders are multifactorial conditions involving genetic, metabolic, environmental, and behavioral factors. Considering that compulsive eating in the face of adverse consequences characterizes some eating disorders, similar to the way in which compulsive drug intake characterizes drug addiction, it might be considered an addiction in its own right. Moreover, numerous review articles have recently drawn a connection between the neural circuits activated in the seeking/intake of palatable food and drugs of abuse. Based on this observation, “food addiction” has emerged as an area of intense scientific research, and accumulating evidence suggests that it is possible to model some aspects of food addiction in animals. The development of well-characterized animal models would advance our understanding of the etiologic neural factors involved in eating disorders, such as compulsive overeating, and it would permit to propose targeted pharmacological therapies. However, to date, little evidence has been reported of continued food seeking and intake despite its harmful consequences in rats and mice.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Alessandro Ribaldo for figures regarding schematic representation of the apparatus and Jenna Hollenstein for helpful suggestions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Scienze Cliniche Applicate e Biotecnologie, University of L’Aquila, L’Aquila, Italy

    Rossella Ventura Ph.D. & Enrico Patrono

  2. Santa Lucia Foundation, European Centre for Brain Research (CERC), Roma, Italy

    Rossella Ventura Ph.D., Emanuele Claudio Latagliata Ph.D., Enrico Patrono, Matteo Di Segni & Stefano Puglisi-Allegra Ph.D.

  3. Dipartimento di Psicologia and Centro “Daniel Bovet”, University “La Sapienza”, Roma, Italy

    Emanuele Claudio Latagliata Ph.D., Matteo Di Segni & Stefano Puglisi-Allegra Ph.D.

Authors
  1. Rossella Ventura Ph.D.
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  2. Emanuele Claudio Latagliata Ph.D.
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  3. Enrico Patrono
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  4. Matteo Di Segni
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  5. Stefano Puglisi-Allegra Ph.D.
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Correspondence to Rossella Ventura Ph.D. .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. College of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, University of Florida, S. Newell Dr. 100, Gainesville, 32610, Florida, USA

    Nicole M. Avena

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Ventura, R., Latagliata, E.C., Patrono, E., Di Segni, M., Puglisi-Allegra, S. (2013). Food Seeking in Spite of Harmful Consequences. In: Avena, N. (eds) Animal Models of Eating Disorders. Neuromethods, vol 74. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-62703-104-2_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-62703-104-2_14

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  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, Totowa, NJ

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