Studies in the laboratory focused on the effects of altered feeding patterns, stress, and pharmacologic treatments on the regulation of appetitive behavior, satiety responses and body weight, with particular focus on the influence of central catecholamine and endogenous opiate systems. In a series of studies on the behavioral pharmacology of feeding in laboratory rodents begun during the past year, we showed that naloxone decreased sham feeding of sucrose in a dose dependent pattern similar to that produced by the dopamine antagonist pimozide. Preliminary results of a study neonatal treatment of laboratory rodents with opiate agonists demonstrated that these animals have long-lasting alterations in opiate-mediated feeding behaviors. These preclinical studies may assist in the development of animal models pertinent to the clinical disorders of bulimia and anorexia nervosa.
