Laque, Amanda, Wagner, Grant E, Matzeu, Alessandra, De Ness, Genna L, Kerr, Tony M, Carroll, Ayla M, de Guglielmo, Giordano, Nedelescu, Hermina, Buczynski, Matthew W, Gregus, Ann M, Jhou, Thomas C, Zorrilla, Eric P, Martin-Fardon, Remi, Koya, Eisuke, Ritter, Robert C, Weiss, Friedbert and Suto, Nobuyoshi (2022) Linking drug and food addiction via compulsive appetite. British Journal of Pharmacology. ISSN 0007-1188

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Abstract

Background and Purpose
“Food addiction” is the subject of intense public and research interest. However, this nosology based on neurobehavioral similarities among obese individuals and patients with eating disorders and drug addiction remains controversial. We thus sought to determine which aspects of disordered eating are causally linked to preclinical models of drug addiction. We hypothesized that extensive drug histories, known to cause addiction-like brain changes and drug motivation in rats, would also cause addiction-like food motivation.

Experimental Approach
Rats underwent extensive cocaine, alcohol, caffeine or obesogenic diet histories, and were subsequently tested for punishment-resistant food self-administration or “compulsive appetite”, as a measure of addiction-like food motivation.

Key Results
Extensive cocaine and alcohol (but not caffeine) histories caused compulsive appetite that persisted long after the last drug exposure. Extensive obesogenic diet histories also caused compulsive appetite, although neither cocaine nor alcohol histories caused excess calorie intake and bodyweight during abstinence. Hence, compulsive appetite and obesity appear to be dissociable, with the former sharing common mechanisms with preclinical drug addiction models.

Conclusion and Implications
Compulsive appetite, as seen in subsets of obese individuals and patients with binge-eating disorder and bulimia nervosa (eating disorders that do not necessarily result in obesity), appears to epitomize “food addiction”. Because different drug and obesogenic diet histories caused compulsive appetite, overlapping dysregulations in the reward circuits, which control drug and food motivation independently of energy homeostasis, may offer common therapeutic targets for treating addictive behaviors across drug addiction, eating disorders and obesity.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	Eating disorders, Substance use disorders, food addiction
Schools and Departments:	School of Psychology > Psychology
SWORD Depositor:	Mx Elements Account
Depositing User:	Mx Elements Account
Date Deposited:	26 Oct 2021 08:11
Last Modified:	13 Jan 2023 02:00
URI:	http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/102491

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