Modeling Anorexia Nervosa - Grand Rounds Lecture

Explore a comprehensive grand rounds lecture on modeling anorexia nervosa presented by Tim Moran, Ph.D. at Johns Hopkins Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. Delve into the complex interplay between physical activity, ingestion, and the development of anorexia nervosa through the Activity Based Anorexia (ABA) model. Examine how ABA affects cognitive function, taste perception, and stress responses in rodents. Investigate the role of prenatal stress in coping styles and the impact of hypothalamic neurons on ABA susceptibility. Gain insights into protective factors against ABA and the importance of food anticipatory activity. Learn about various experimental techniques used in eating disorder research, including wheel running, novel object recognition, conditioned taste avoidance, and defensive burying tests. Understand the neurobiological changes associated with ABA, such as increased oxidative stress in prefrontal cortex neurons. This in-depth presentation offers valuable knowledge for researchers, clinicians, and students interested in the neurobiology and etiology of eating disorders.

Intro
Learning Objectives
Access to a running wheel alters ingestion
Activity Based Anorexia
Etiological model for eating disorders
ABA impairs performance on novel object recognition test
ABA rats acquire a conditioned taste avoidance more rapidly
Extinction of a conditioned taste avoidance is slower in ABA rats
ABA increases oxidative stress in mPFC parvalbumin neurons and reduces their number
Taste reactivity test
Defensive burying test To assess stress coping-style in rodents
Prenatal stress alters Distribution of coping style
AgRP and POMC neurons in the hypothalamic arcuate nucleus
Ablating AgRP neurons increases susceptibility to ABA
Resistant rats confine running to the period of food anticipatory activity - FAA
Factors prior to ABA exposure that are protective