Similar Brain Areas Involved in Anorexia, Ecstasy High
October 6th, 2007 Posted by: Dr. Dobson
Both the eating disorder anorexia and the club-drug ecstasy appear to involve the same serotonin receptor sites in the brain, according to French researchers.
Reuters reported Oct. 3 that researcher Valerie Compan of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in Montpelier found that the disease and the drug both activate the 5-HT4 receptor sites, part of the brain’s reward system and located in the nucleus accumbens.
The 5-HT4 receptors are known to play a role in addictive behavior. Compan and colleagues found that stimulating these receptors caused anorexic-like behavior in mice, while blocking the receptors increased food intake.
“Our data may converge to open the possibility that anorexia can be a reward-relating problem involving neuronal mechanisms,” Compan said. “Our studies over seven years now open the possibility that 5-HT4 receptor could represent an important therapeutic target to treat patients suffering from these disorders.”
The research was published online Oct. 3 in the Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Reference:Jean, A., et al. (2007) Anorexia induced by activation of serotonin 5-HT4 receptors is mediated by increases in CART in the nucleus accumbens. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, published online Oct. 3, 2007; doi: 10.1073/pnas.0701471104
?
This article summarizes a mainstream media report of research published in a scientific journal. It is not an original analysis of the source material, which is cited in the reference above.
Popularity: unranked [?]
Tags: Similar, Brain, Areas, Involved, Anorexia, Ecstasy