An open-source device for measuring food intake and operant behavior in rodent home-cages

Feeding is critical for survival and disruption in the mechanisms that govern food intake underlie disorders such as obesity and anorexia nervosa. It is important to understand both food intake and food motivation to reveal mechanisms underlying feeding disorders. Operant behavioral testing can be used to measure the motivational component to feeding, but most food intake monitoring systems do not measure operant behavior. Here, we present a new solution for monitoring both food intake and motivation in rodent home-cages: The Feeding Experimentation Device version 3 (FED3). FED3 measures food intake and operant behavior in rodent home-cages, enabling longitudinal studies of feeding behavior with minimal experimenter intervention. It has a programmable output for synchronizing behavior with optogenetic stimulation or neural recordings. Finally, FED3 design files are open-source and freely available, allowing researchers to modify FED3 to suit their needs.

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Feeding Experimentation Device version 3 (FED3): An open-source home-cage compatible device for measuring food intake and operant behavior

10.1101/2020.12.07.408864 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Bridget A. Matikainen-Ankney ◽

Thomas Earnest ◽

Mohamed Ali ◽

Eric Casey ◽

Amy K. Sutton ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Food Intake ◽

Open Source ◽

Operant Behavior ◽

Home Cage ◽

Food Motivation ◽

List Type ◽

Feeding Patterns ◽

Neural Recordings ◽

Self Stimulation ◽

Behavioral Assays

SummaryFeeding is critical for survival and disruption in the mechanisms that govern food intake underlie disorders such as obesity and anorexia nervosa. It is important to understand both food intake and food motivation to reveal mechanisms underlying feeding disorders. Operant behavioral testing can be used to measure the motivational component to feeding, but most food intake monitoring systems do not measure operant behavior. Here, we present a new solution for monitoring both food intake and motivation: The Feeding Experimentation Device version 3 (FED3). FED3 measures food intake and operant behavior in rodent home-cages, enabling longitudinal studies of feeding behavior with minimal experimenter intervention. It has a programmable output for synchronizing behavior with optogenetic stimulation or neural recordings. Finally, FED3 design files are open-source and freely available, allowing researchers to modify FED3 to suit their needs. In this paper we demonstrate the utility of FED3 in a range of experimental paradigms.In BriefUsing a novel, high-throughput home cage feeding platform, FED3, Matikainen-Ankney et al. quantify food intake and operant learning in groups of mice conducted at multiple institutions across the globe. Results include rates of operant efficiency, circadian feeding patterns, and operant optogenetic self-stimulation.HighlightsThe Feeding Experimentation Device version 3(FED3) records food intake and operant behavior in rodent home cages.Analysis of food intake includes total intake, meal pattern analysis, and circadian analysis of feeding patterns.FED3 also allows for operant behavioral assays to examine food learning and motivation.

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Faculty Opinions recommendation of Applying family-based treatment (FBT) to three clinical presentations of avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder: Similarities and differences from FBT for anorexia nervosa.

Faculty Opinions – Post-Publication Peer Review of the Biomedical Literature ◽

10.3410/f.734680237.793565464 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Evelyn Attia

Keyword(s):

Anorexia Nervosa ◽

Food Intake ◽

Clinical Presentations ◽

Similarities And Differences ◽

Family Based Treatment ◽

Family Based

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Anorexia Nervosa and Depression in a Woman Blind since the Age of Nine Months

The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry ◽

10.1177/070674379303800701 ◽

1993 ◽

Vol 38 (7) ◽

pp. 469-471 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Clifford W. Sharp

Keyword(s):

Eating Disorders ◽

Body Image ◽

Anorexia Nervosa ◽

Eating Disorder ◽

Major Depression ◽

Food Intake ◽

Older Women ◽

The Body ◽

Atypical Presentation ◽

History Of

A woman aged 58 who has been blind since the age of nine months presented with major depression and a 40 year history of an eating disorder characterized by a restriction of food intake and body disparagement. The case is additional evidence that a specifically visual body image is not essential for the development of anorexia nervosa and supports the view that the concept of body image is unnecessary and unproductive in eating disorders. Greater emphasis should be placed on attitudes and feelings toward the body, and the possibility of an eating disorder should be considered in cases of older women with an atypical presentation.

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Prevalence of autism spectrum disorder and autistic traits in children with anorexia nervosa and avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder

BioPsychoSocial Medicine ◽

10.1186/s13030-021-00212-3 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 15 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Takeshi Inoue ◽

Ryoko Otani ◽

Toshiyuki Iguchi ◽

Ryuta Ishii ◽

Soh Uchida ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽

Anorexia Nervosa ◽

Food Intake ◽

Autistic Traits ◽

Autism Spectrum ◽

Eating Attitudes ◽

Spectrum Disorder ◽

Autism Spectrum Quotient ◽

Multicenter Cohort Study ◽

Feeding And Eating Disorders

Abstract Background Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and feeding and eating disorders (FEDs) such as anorexia nervosa (AN) are strongly linked as evidenced by frequent comorbidity and overlapping traits. However, eating and social behaviors are shaped by culture, so it is critical to examine these associations in different populations. Moreover, FEDs are heterogeneous, and there has been no examination of autistic traits in avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID). Methods Therefore, we investigated the prevalence of ASD and autistic traits among Japanese children with AN (n = 92) or ARFID (n = 32) from a prospective multicenter cohort study using the Autism Spectrum Quotient Children’s version (AQC) and Children’s Eating Attitudes Test (ChEAT26). Results ASD prevalence was high in both AN and ARFID (16.3 and 12.5%, respectively). The AN group exhibited significantly higher scores on all AQC subscales than an age-matched healthy control (HC) group, but there were no significant correlations between AQC scores and ChEAT26 scores. In the AFRID group, AQC scores did not differ from HCs, but significant correlations were found between total AQC and ChEAT26 scores and between several AQC and ChEAT26 subscales. Conclusions Both the AN and ARFID groups had high prevalence rates of ASD. The AN group showed a significantly higher degree of autistic traits than the HC group; however, no difference was found between the ARFID and HC groups. Clinicians need to be aware of these rates when working with children with ED.

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The Gut Microbiome Derived From Anorexia Nervosa Patients Impairs Weight Gain and Behavioral Performance in Female Mice

Endocrinology ◽

10.1210/en.2019-00408 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 160 (10) ◽

pp. 2441-2452 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Tomokazu Hata ◽

Noriyuki Miyata ◽

Shu Takakura ◽

Kazufumi Yoshihara ◽

Yasunari Asano ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Body Weight ◽

Anorexia Nervosa ◽

Weight Gain ◽

Food Intake ◽

Brain Stem ◽

Body Weight Gain ◽

Field Tests ◽

Compulsive Behavior ◽

The Brain ◽

Poor Weight Gain

Abstract Anorexia nervosa (AN) results in gut dysbiosis, but whether the dysbiosis contributes to AN-specific pathologies such as poor weight gain and neuropsychiatric abnormalities remains unclear. To address this, germ-free mice were reconstituted with the microbiota of four patients with restricting-type AN (gAN mice) and four healthy control individuals (gHC mice). The effects of gut microbes on weight gain and behavioral characteristics were examined. Fecal microbial profiles in recipient gnotobiotic mice were clustered with those of the human donors. Compared with gHC mice, gAN mice showed a decrease in body weight gain, concomitant with reduced food intake. Food efficiency ratio (body weight gain/food intake) was also significantly lower in gAN mice than in gHC mice, suggesting that decreased appetite as well as the capacity to convert ingested food to unit of body substance may contribute to poor weight gain. Both anxiety-related behavior measured by open-field tests and compulsive behavior measured by a marble-burying test were increased only in gAN mice but not in gHC mice. Serotonin levels in the brain stem of gAN mice were lower than those in the brain stem of gHC mice. Moreover, the genus Bacteroides showed the highest correlation with the number of buried marbles among all genera identified. Administration of Bacteroides vulgatus reversed compulsive behavior but failed to exert any substantial effect on body weight. Collectively, these results indicate that AN-specific dysbiosis may contribute to both poor weight gain and mental disorders in patients with AN.

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Increased hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal drive is associated with decreased appetite and hypoactivation of food-motivation neurocircuitry in anorexia nervosa

Acta Endocrinologica ◽

10.1530/eje-13-0433 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 169 (5) ◽

pp. 639-647 ◽

Cited By ~ 36

Author(s):

Elizabeth A Lawson ◽

Laura M Holsen ◽

Rebecca DeSanti ◽

McKale Santin ◽

Erinne Meenaghan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Anorexia Nervosa ◽

Visual Processing ◽

Serum Cortisol ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Food Motivation ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Hypothalamic Pituitary Adrenal ◽

Cortisol Levels ◽

The Relationship

ObjectiveCorticotrophin-releasing hormone (CRH)-mediated hypercortisolemia has been demonstrated in anorexia nervosa (AN), a psychiatric disorder characterized by food restriction despite low body weight. While CRH is anorexigenic, downstream cortisol stimulates hunger. Using a food-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) paradigm, we have demonstrated hypoactivation of brain regions involved in food motivation in women with AN, even after weight recovery. The relationship between hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis dysregulation and appetite and the association with food-motivation neurocircuitry hypoactivation are unknown in AN. We investigated the relationship between HPA activity, appetite, and food-motivation neurocircuitry hypoactivation in AN.DesignCross-sectional study of 36 women (13 AN, ten weight-recovered AN (ANWR), and 13 healthy controls (HC)).MethodsPeripheral cortisol and ACTH levels were measured in a fasting state and 30, 60, and 120 min after a standardized mixed meal. The visual analog scale was used to assess homeostatic and hedonic appetite. fMRI was performed during visual processing of food and non-food stimuli to measure the brain activation pre- and post-meal.ResultsIn each group, serum cortisol levels decreased following the meal. Mean fasting, 120 min post-meal, and nadir cortisol levels were high in AN vs HC. Mean postprandial ACTH levels were high in ANWR compared with HC and AN subjects. Cortisol levels were associated with lower fasting homeostatic and hedonic appetite, independent of BMI and depressive symptoms. Cortisol levels were also associated with between-group variance in activation in the food-motivation brain regions (e.g. hypothalamus, amygdala, hippocampus, orbitofrontal cortex, and insula).ConclusionsHPA activation may contribute to the maintenance of AN by the suppression of appetitive drive.

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Operationalizing Open-Source Electronic Monitoring Systems in New England Groundfish Sectors

10.4027/fbgics.2015.11 ◽

2015 ◽

Author(s):

R Long ◽

A Barney ◽

C Carlin ◽

J Joyce ◽

M Loquine ◽

...

Keyword(s):

New England ◽

Open Source ◽

Electronic Monitoring ◽

Monitoring Systems

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Acyl-CoA-binding protein (ACBP): a phylogenetically conserved appetite stimulator

Cell Death and Disease ◽

10.1038/s41419-019-2205-x ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Nikolaos Charmpilas ◽

Christoph Ruckenstuhl ◽

Valentina Sica ◽

Sabrina Büttner ◽

Lukas Habernig ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Saccharomyces Cerevisiae ◽

Anorexia Nervosa ◽

Caenorhabditis Elegans ◽

Food Intake ◽

Binding Protein ◽

Plasma Concentrations ◽

Food Sources ◽

Knowing That ◽

Pharyngeal Pumping ◽

Appetite Stimulation

AbstractRecently, we reported that, in mice, hunger causes the autophagy-dependent release of a protein called “acyl-CoA-binding protein” or “diazepam binding inhibitor” (ACBP/DBI) from cells, resulting in an increase in plasma ACBP concentrations. Administration of extra ACBP is orexigenic and obesogenic, while its neutralization is anorexigenic in mice, suggesting that ACBP is a major stimulator of appetite and lipo-anabolism. Accordingly, obese persons have higher circulating ACBP levels than lean individuals, and anorexia nervosa is associated with subnormal ACBP plasma concentrations. Here, we investigated whether ACBP might play a phylogenetically conserved role in appetite stimulation. We found that extracellular ACBP favors sporulation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, knowing that sporulation is a strategy for yeast to seek new food sources. Moreover, in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, ACBP increased the ingestion of bacteria as well as the frequency pharyngeal pumping. These observations indicate that ACBP has a phylogenetically ancient role as a ‘hunger factor’ that favors food intake.

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