Ricerc@Sapienza

Binge eating episodes are characterized by uncontrollable, distressing eating of a large amount of highly palatable food (HPF) and represent a central feature of bingeing-related eating disorders, such as binge eating disorder (BED). Binge-eating episodes occur also in obese individuals, significantly contributing to the high caloric intake and overweight. The excessive intake of certain foods under specified conditions is able to induces changes in the brain that resemble an addiction-like state. A large body of evidence shows that one of the mechanisms underlying the pathophysiology of BED in the central nervous system is represented by the disruption of the dopamine (DA) rewarding circuitry.
The endogenous satiety signal Oleoylethanolamide (OEA) has recently emerged as a potential novel pharmacological target for controlling aberrant eating patterns occurring in eating disorders.
On the bases of these previous observations, in the present proposal we aim to investigate the effect of OEA on HPF intake and on the modulation of the DA concentration and release in the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) in a model of binge eating, in which female rats with a history of intermittent food restriction show binge-like palatable food consumption after a 15-minute exposure to the sight of the palatable food (frustration stress).
OEA will be administered (10 mg/kg intraperitoneally) to two different sets of BED and control rats.
In the first set, rats will be subjected to a microdialysis experiment performed within the shell of the NAcc (AcbSh) and feeding-behavior and DA extracellular levels will be analyzed.
In the second set of rats, 1 hours after OEA administration rats will be sacrificed and brains will be collected. Brains will be sectioned with the aid of a cryostat and monoamines will be extracted from brain samples obtained by microdissecting the slices containing NAcc. DA extracellular concentration and DA tissue levels will be analyzed by using a HPLC system.