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Updated: May 12, 2026

Using the Activity-based Anorexia Rodent Model to Study the Neurobiological Basis of Anorexia Nervosa
Published on: October 22, 2015
Anorexia and hypothalamic degeneration
Ida A K Nilsson1, Charlotte Lindfors, Martin Schalling
1Department of Molecular Medicine & Surgery, Karolinska Institutet, and Center for Molecular Medicine, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden. ida.nilsson@ki.se
Abstract:
Anorexia, meaning poor appetite, occurs in many human conditions, for example, anorexia nervosa, cachexia, and failure to thrive in infants. A key player in the regulation of appetite/food intake in general, as well as conditions of anorexia, is the hypothalamus, in particular, the AGRP/NPY and POMC/CART neurons in the arcuate nucleus. In this chapter, we review the hypothalamic aberrances seen in the anorectic anx/anx mouse. This mouse displays deviations in neuropeptidergic/-transmitter systems, including selective hypothalamic degeneration and inflammation that have been associated with mitochondrial dysfunction. In addition, we discuss data from other animal models, as well as clinical data relating hypothalamic inflammation/degeneration, neurogenesis, and mitochondrial dysfunction to conditions of disturbed regulation of food intake.
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