Translational Research on Eating Disorders

描述(申请人提供)：进食障碍、神经性厌食症和 神经性暴食症是一种病因不明的精神疾病，影响 相当数量的妇女，并与大量的发病率有关 和死亡率。这些障碍的一个主要行为特征是精神障碍 控制食物的大小。神经性厌食症的特征是异常 暴饮暴食导致的小餐和神经性暴食症。 在过去的二十年里，在理解 控制实验动物的膳食大小，但直接应用这些 饮食紊乱的模特还很缺乏。的第二个临床特征 饮食失调是一种缩小行为范围的行为，因此与食物相关的 思想和行为逐渐干扰其他职业和 社会活动。这种模式让人联想到个人的行为 吸毒成瘾。有大量的临床前数据证明 滥用药物的行为和神经化学影响，但再一次，有 很少有人尝试系统地检查这些信息在 了解进食障碍。 这项建议的R21发展基金将把临床前知识转化为 饮食行为和物质使用对人类研究的控制 饮食失调。双方将建立正式的合作关系 在动物摄食行为研究方面有专业知识的研究人员， 具有研究人类物质滥用的专门知识的调查人员和 在研究人类饮食和饮食失调方面具有专业知识的研究人员。 这个研究小组将开发和进行实验来翻译BASIC 动物研究人类饮食失调，反之亦然 在动物模型中检查临床经验中描述的现象 有进食障碍的病人。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The eating disorders, Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa, are psychiatric illnesses of uncertain etiology which affect a significant number of women and which are associated with substantial morbidity and mortality. A central behavioral feature of these disorders is a disturbance in the control of meal size. Anorexia Nervosa is characterized by abnormally small meals and Bulimia Nervosa by abnormally large ("binge") meals. Substantial progress has been made in the last two decades in understanding the controls of meal size in laboratory animals, but direct applications of these models to disordered eating are lacking. A second clinical characteristic of eating disorders is a narrowing of behavioral repertoire so that food-related thinking and behavior progressively interfere with other occupational and social activities. This pattern is reminiscent of the behavior of individuals dependent on drugs. There are substantial preclinical data documenting the behavioral and neurochemical effects of drugs of abuse, but, again, there have been few attempts to examine systematically the utility of this information in understanding eating disorders. This proposed R21 Developmental Grant will translate preclinical knowledge of the controls of eating behavior and of substance use to the study of human eating disorders. A formal collaboration will be established between investigators with expertise in the study of feeding behavior in animals, investigators with expertise in the study of human substance abuse and investigators with expertise in the study of human eating and eating disorders. This research group will develop and conduct experiments to translate basic animal research into the study of human eating disorders and, conversely, to examine in animal models phenomena described in clinical experience with patients with eating disorders.