Lateral hypothalamic circuit dynamics underlying binge eating

Univ Of North Carolina Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill NC

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Abstract

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Binge eating disorders, characterized by uncontrollable bouts of excessive feeding, are often associated with obesity. Furthermore, the recent surge in high-fat foods has increased the propensity of binge-eating disorders and obesity-related diseases. Thus, understanding the effects of high-fat foods on the activity of precise neurophysiological systems that are important for regulating energy balance will be critical to the proper identification of novel therapeutic treatments for binge-eating disorders an obesity. Thus, the goals of this proposal are to characterize the neural activity patterns of genetically defined neuronal populations during binge eating of high-fat foods, as well as to provide a neurocircuit tracing map for binge eating. To accomplish this, I will use in vivo electrophysiology paired with optogenetics to monitor changes in firing patterns during multiple binge-eating episodes. Taken together, this proposal will provide novel insight into specific neural signals of binge eating and obesity.