Animal models of eating disorders

Feeding is a fundamental process for basic survival and is influenced by genetics and environmental stressors. Recent advances in our understanding of behavioral genetics have provided a profound insight on several components regulating eating patterns. However, our understanding of eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating, is still poor. The animal model is an essential tool in the investigation of eating behaviors and their pathological forms, yet development of an appropriate animal model for eating disorders still remains challenging due to our limited knowledge and some of the more ambiguous clinical diagnostic measures. Therefore, this review will serve to focus on the basic clinical features of eating disorders and the current advances in animal models of eating disorders.This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Neuroscience Disease Models.

▶Clinical features of eating disorders, including Anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, are described. ▶No genetic models of eating disorders are available. ▶Due to the complex nature of disorders, one model cannot encompass all the clinical features.