Volume 16, Number 3
Anorexia's Hard to Shake -- A Possibility
Nobody would deny that psychological problems lie at the heart of anorexia nervosa. "But from what we know of anorexia," says Timothy Moran, Ph.D., "we wouldn't be surprised to learn that, in these semi-starved patients, metabolic or endocrine changes also occur that work against their getting better." If that's true, is it because continued fasting locks in a shift in body chemistry? Or do people with anorexia just not respond properly to malnutrition and starvation?
Moran, a behavioral
neuroscientist with Hopkins' Department of Psychiatry, and his colleagues
in its Eating Disorders Research Program are examining anorexia biology
at its most basic level. This adds to Moran's several decades of mapping
chemical pathways that drive food behaviors such as the urge to eat or refuse
food. He's also helped clarify molecules that trigger those activities.Lately, he's focused on tracking small GI tract peptides that appear in response to food or lack thereof. Moran's shown, for example, that the cholecystokinin the gut makes during a meal targets specific receptors in the brain's hypothalamus. Its behavioral effect pushes people away from the buffet table.
The team's latest study centers on mealtime levels of several peptides, to see if anorexic patients differ from healthy control subjects. A new measurement will occur after the patients reach a healthier weight. "We suspect peptide levels will change during meals for both groups," says Moran, "but we're most eager to see if the chemical profile in anorexia differs from that of healthy people." Does reaching a weight goal return patients to normal chemistry? They hope to find out.
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