title: Repeated binge access to a palatable food alters feeding behavior, hormone profile, and hindbrain c-Fos responses to a test meal in adult male rats.
abstract: Repetitive cycles of palatable food access and chronic calorie restriction alter feeding behaviors and forebrain neural systems. The purpose of this study was to determine the behavioral, endocrine, and meal-related hindbrain neural activation in adult male Sprague-Dawley rats exposed to a binge-access feeding schedule. The binge-access schedule consisted of repeated twice-per-week episodes of acute calorie restriction (to one-third of the previous day's intake) followed by 2 h of concurrent access to high-calorie palatable food (sweetened fat: 90% vegetable shortening-10% sucrose) and chow. The binge-access rats consumed more calories during the "binge" period than rats with continuous access to sweetened fat (continuous-access group) or subjected to repeated acute calorie restriction only (chow-restricted group). The binge-access group also exhibited a approximately 25% increase in sweetened fat intake from week 1 to week 6. Persistence of the binge phenotype in the binge-access animals was demonstrated 2 wk, but not 4 wk, after ad libitum chow. The binge-access and chow-restricted groups maintained a similar normal body composition and hormonal profiles, whereas the continuous-access animals developed an obese phenotype. Terminal ghrelin levels were significantly higher in the binge-access group than in the continuous-access group. Consumption of a standardized meal resulted in more c-Fos-positive cells along the anterior-posterior nucleus of the solitary tract regions in the binge-access group than in naive controls. These results suggest that repeated cycles of acute calorie restriction followed by palatable food produce physiological alterations that may facilitate overconsumption of a highly palatable food during limited-access periods.
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins Univ. School of Medicine, Ross 618, 720 Rutland Ave., Baltimore, MD 21205, USA. ntbello@jhmi.edu
authors.forename: Nicholas T
authors.initials: NT
authors.lastname: Bello
authors.forename: Angela S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Guarda
authors.forename: Chantelle E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Terrillion
authors.forename: Graham W
authors.initials: GW
authors.lastname: Redgrave
authors.forename: Janelle W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Coughlin
authors.forename: Timothy H
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Moran
mesh_terms: D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D001835:Body Weight; D002032:Bulimia / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000523:psychology; D031204:Caloric Restriction; D004041:Dietary Fats / Q000008:administration & dosage; D019422:Dietary Sucrose / Q000008:administration & dosage; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D002149:Energy Intake; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005518:Food Preferences; D054439:Ghrelin / Q000378:metabolism; D006728:Hormones / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000378:metabolism / Q000523:psychology; D010641:Phenotype; D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012249:Rhombencephalon / Q000378:metabolism*; D017552:Solitary Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D004041:Dietary Fats; D019422:Dietary Sucrose; D054439:Ghrelin; D006728:Hormones; D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos