Neuronal Substrate of Eating Disorders

Abstract

Eating disorders are devastating and life-threatening psychiatric diseases. Although clinical and experimental investigations have significantly progressed in discovering the neuronal causes of eating disorders, the exact neuronal and molecular mechanisms of the development and maintenance of these pathologies are not fully understood. The complexity of the neuronal substrate of eating disorders hampers progress in revealing the precise mechanisms. The present review describes the current knowledge on the implication of the neuronal systems that regulate food intake, stress, emotions, and reward in eating disorders. The current data based on clinical and experimental research strongly suggest that these systems are interconnected and a misbalance in one system leads to altered activity in other food-related regulatory networks.