Gut Microbiota Regulates Food Intake in a Rodent Model of Intermittent Limited Access to Palatable Food

Binge-eating disorder is characterized by recurrent episodes of consumption of large amounts of food within a short period of time, without compensatory purging behaviors. This disease is a major public health issue and is associated with numerous comorbidities, encompassing anxiety and depression. The gut microbiota has been proposed to be an important player in the onset or maintenance of eating disorders. Here, we aim to better delineate the potential role of the gut microbiota in binge-eating disorder.

We used a model of intermittent limited access to palatable food where eight-week-old C57Bl/6 female mice had access during 2 h, every 2 days over a 10-day period, to a high-fat/high-sucrose diet. Half of the animals received antibiotics to deplete their gut microbiota. Eating behavior and other behavioral parameters were compared between groups.

We observed an increase in food intake as well as tachyphagia during the intermittent access to high-fat/high-sucrose diet. We demonstrate that gut microbiota depletion further increases food intake during these episodes and promotes binge-eating behavior. No impact on anxiety or depressive-like behavior was observed in animals.

These results show that the gut microbiota is involved in the control of food intake during episodes of binge-eating. This strengthens the potential role of the gut bacteria in binge-eating disorder and the interest in therapeutic strategies aiming at modulating the patients' gut microbiota to treat this eating disorder.