Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 15, 2025

Using the Activity-based Anorexia Rodent Model to Study the Neurobiological Basis of Anorexia Nervosa
Published on: October 22, 2015
AgRP neurons coordinate the mitigation of activity-based anorexia
Ames K Sutton Hickey1, Sean C Duane2, Laura E Mickelsen2
1Diabetes, Endocrinology, and Obesity Branch, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA. amy.sutton@nih.gov.
None:
Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a debilitating and deadly disease characterized by low body mass index due to diminished food intake, and oftentimes concurrent hyperactivity. A high percentage of AN behavioral and metabolic phenotypes can be replicated in rodents given access to a voluntary running wheel and subject to food restriction, termed activity-based anorexia (ABA). Despite the well-documented bodyweight loss observed in AN human patients and ABA rodents, much less is understood regarding the neurobiological underpinnings of these maladaptive behaviors. Hunger-promoting hypothalamic agouti-related peptide (AgRP) neurons have been well characterized in their ability to regulate appetite, yet much less is known regarding their activity and function in the mediation of food intake during ABA. Here, feeding microstructure analysis revealed ABA mice decreased food intake due to increased interpellet interval retrieval and diminished meal number. Longitudinal activity recordings of AgRP neurons in ABA animals exhibited a maladaptive inhibitory response to food, independent of basal activity changes. We then demonstrated that ABA development or progression can be mitigated by chemogenetic AgRP activation through the reprioritization of food intake (increased meal number) over hyperactivity, but only during periods of food availability. These results elucidate a potential neural target for the amelioration of behavioral maladaptations present in AN patients.
Related Concept Videos
Regulation of Food Intake
GPCRs Regulate Adenylyl Cylase Activity
Autonomic Nervous System
The ANS comprises two main divisions: the sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions. These divisions function antagonistically to maintain a dynamic...
Anorexia Nervosa
Symptoms and Physical Effects
Individuals with anorexia nervosa commonly exhibit extreme...
GPCR Desensitization
G-Protein Gated Ion Channels
Sensory...

