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The role of the opioid system in binge eating disorder

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 October 2015

Chiara Giuliano  and
Pietro Cottone
Chiara Giuliano*
Affiliation:
Behavioral and Clinical Neuroscience Institute and Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, UK
Pietro Cottone
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Addictive Disorders, Departments of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics and Psychiatry, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
*
*Address for correspondence: Dr. Chiara Giuliano, Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Downing St, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK. (Email: [email protected])
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Abstract

Binge eating disorder is characterized by excessive, uncontrollable consumption of palatable food within brief periods of time. Excessive intake of palatable food is thought to be driven by hedonic, rather than energy homeostatic, mechanisms. However, reward processing does not only comprise consummatory actions; a key component is represented by the anticipatory phase directed at procuring the reward. This phase is highly influenced by environmental food-associated stimuli, which can robustly enhance the desire to eat even in the absence of physiological needs. The opioid system (endogenous peptides and their receptors) has been strongly linked to the rewarding aspects of palatable food intake, and perhaps represents the key system involved in hedonic overeating. Here we review evidence suggesting that the opioid system can also be regarded as one of the systems that regulates the anticipatory incentive processes preceding binge eating hedonic episodes.

Keywords

Animal modelsbinge eatingincentive salienceopioidspalatable food
Type
Review Articles
Information
CNS Spectrums , Volume 20 , Special Issue 6: Binge Eating Disorder Differentiating from General Obesity , December 2015 , pp. 537 - 545
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2015 

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Footnotes

The authors would like to thank Prof. Barry Everitt for constructive and helpful comments on the manuscript and Dr. David Belin for the generous contribution of generating the illustration.

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