Opioid system in the medial prefrontal cortex mediates binge‐like eating
Year: 2013
Type: article
Abstract: Binge eating disorder is an addiction-like disorder characterized by excessive food consumption within discrete periods of time. This study was aimed at understanding the role of the opioid system within the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) in the consummatory and motivational aspects of binge-like eating. For this purpose, we trained male rats to obtain either a sugary, highly palatable diet (Palatable rats) or a chow diet (Chow rats) for 1 hour/day. We then evaluated the effects of the opioid receptor antagonist, naltrexone, given either systemically or site-specifically into the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) or the mPFC on a fixed ratio 1 (FR1) and a progressive ratio schedule of reinforcement for food. Finally, we assessed the expression of the genes proopiomelanocortin (POMC), pro-dynorphin (PDyn) and pro-enkephalin (PEnk), coding for the opioids peptides in the NAcc and the mPFC in both groups. Palatable rats rapidly escalated their intake by four times. Naltrexone, when administered systemically and into the NAcc, reduced FR1 responding for food and motivation to eat under a progressive ratio in both Chow and Palatable rats; conversely, when administered into the mPFC, the effects were highly selective for binge eating rats. Furthermore, we found a twofold increase in POMC and a ∼50% reduction in PDyn gene expression in the mPFC of Palatable rats, when compared to control rats; however, no changes were observed in the NAcc. Our data suggest that neuroadaptations of the opioid system in the mPFC occur following intermittent access to highly palatable food, which may be responsible for the development of binge-like eating.
Source: Addiction Biology
DOI: 10.1111/adb.12033
Institutions: Boston University, Sapienza University of Rome
Language: English
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
Awards: G1577017708, Role of Neuropeptides in Anxiety, Role of the Endocannabinoid System in Compulsive Eating, G4519396387, Role of sigma receptors in ethanol reinforcement, G5359527725, The dark side of preferred food addiction: role of CRF systems, G642512740, Role of sigma receptors in ethanol reinforcement, Neurobiology of compulsive eating., G7798040430, The dark side of preferred food addiction: role of CRF systems
OpenAlex ID: W1578443733