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Ghrelin mediates stress-induced food-reward behavior in mice.
- Source :
-
Journal of Clinical Investigation . Jul2011, Vol. 121 Issue 7, p2684-2692. 9p. 1 Diagram, 3 Graphs. - Publication Year :
- 2011
-
Abstract
- The popular media and personal anecdotes are rich with examples of stress-induced eating of calorically dense "comfort foods." Such behavioral reactions likely contribute to the increased prevalence of obesity in humans experiencing chronic stress or atypical depression. However, the molecular substrates and neurocircuits controlling the complex behaviors responsible for stress-based eating remain mostly unknown, and few animal models have been described for probing the mechanisms orchestrating this response. Here, we describe a system in which food-reward behavior, assessed using a conditioned place preference (CPP) task, is monitored in mice after exposure to chronic social defeat stress (CSDS), a model of prolonged psychosocial stress, featuring aspects of major depression and posttraumatic stress disorder. Under this regime, CSDS increased both CPP for and intake of high-fat diet, and stress-induced food-reward behavior was dependent on signaling by the peptide hormone ghrelin. Also, signaling specifically in catecholaminergic neurons mediated not only ghrelin's orexigenic, antidepressant-like, and food-reward behavioral effects, but also was sufficient to mediate stress-induced food-reward behavior. Thus, this mouse model has allowed us to ascribe a role for ghrelin-engaged catecholaminergic neurons in stress-induced eating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- *GHRELIN
*COMFORT food
*OBESITY
*PSYCHOLOGICAL stress
*MENTAL depression
*MICE behavior
*LABORATORY mice
*POST-traumatic stress disorder
*ANIMAL behavior
*ANIMAL experimentation
*CELL receptors
*COMPARATIVE studies
*CONDITIONED response
*SOCIAL dominance
*FOOD
*FOOD habits
*INGESTION
*RESEARCH methodology
*MEDICAL cooperation
*MICE
*NEURONS
*RESEARCH
*RESEARCH funding
*REWARD (Psychology)
*EVALUATION research
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 00219738
- Volume :
- 121
- Issue :
- 7
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- Journal of Clinical Investigation
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 62795632
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI57660