Investigating addictive/compulsive feeding behavior

National Institute Of Diabetes And Digestive And Kidney Diseases

Investigators

Linked publications, trials & patents

Abstract

Our program at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) provides a powerful platform to investigate the circuit mechanisms underlying compulsive feeding behavior, a core feature of obesity and binge eating disorder. Using rodent models that recapitulate aspects of compulsive intake—such as continued consumption of palatable food despite satiety or aversive consequences—the lab applies advanced methodologies including optogenetics, chemogenetics, calcium imaging, and activity-dependent neuronal tagging to map the hypothalamic, limbic, and striatal circuits that govern the transition from adaptive feeding to maladaptive overeating. This research falls squarely within the NIH’s mission to elucidate the neurobiological bases of behavior and energy balance and directly addresses public health priorities in obesity, metabolic disease, and psychiatric comorbidity. A central research focus is to understand how anti-obesity therapeutics, such as the GLP-1 receptor agonist semaglutide, modulate the neural substrates of compulsive feeding. GLP-1 receptor signaling has been shown to influence both homeostatic satiety circuits in the hypothalamus and hindbrain as well as mesolimbic reward pathways, reducing food motivation and reinforcing adaptive meal termination. By integrating pharmacology with circuit neuroscience, the lab can determine whether semaglutide exerts its therapeutic benefit by attenuating AgRP neuron–driven hunger signals, enhancing POMC and brainstem satiety pathways, or dampening reward-related activity in the nucleus accumbens and ventral tegmental area. These studies contribute to NIH-supported scientific programs in gut-brain axis communication, obesity biology, and therapeutic mechanism of action, with direct translational relevance to the development of next-generation pharmacotherapies for metabolic disorders. By situating these investigations at the intersection of systems neuroscience, metabolism, and behavioral pharmacology, the laboratory advances NIH priorities in understanding how maladaptive drives contribute to disease and how targeted interventions can restore balance. This program highlights compulsive feeding as a model for dissecting the integration of satiety, reward, and motivation, while addressing major disease areas including obesity, binge eating disorder, and type 2 diabetes. The ultimate goal is to generate mechanistic insight that informs both basic science and translational efforts, guiding strategies to improve health outcomes and reduce the societal burden of metabolic and eating disorders.