Sugar bingeing in rats

Bingeing behavior is characteristic of many eating disorders. This unit describes an animal model of sugar bingeing. This model has been used successfully to elicit behavioral and neurochemical signs of sugar dependence in rats, e.g., indices of bingeing, withdrawal, increased intake after abstinence (deprivation effect), cross-sensitization with amphetamine, and increases in dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens due to repeated bingeing.