Exposure to activity‐based anorexia impairs contextual learning in weight‐restored rats without affecting spatial learning, taste, anxiety, or dietary‐fat preference

Abstract

Relapse rates are high amongst cases of Anorexia Nervosa (AN) suggesting that some alterations induced by AN may remain after weight restoration. Objective To study the consequences of AN without confounds of environmental variability, a rodent model of activity based anorexia (ABA) can be employed. We hypothesized that exposure to ABA during adolescence may have long-term consequences in taste function, cognition, and anxiety-like behavior after weight restoration. Methods To test this hypothesis we exposed adolescent female rats to ABA (1.5 hrs food access, combined with voluntary running wheel access) and compared their behavior to that of control rats after weight restoration was achieved. The rats were tested for learning /memory, anxiety, food preference and taste in a set of behavioral tests performed during the light period. Results Our data show that ABA exposure leads to reduced performance during the novel object recognition task, a test for contextual learning, without altering performance in the novel place recognition task or the Barnes maze, both tasks that test spatial learning. Furthermore, we do not observe alterations in unconditioned lick responses to sucrose nor quinine (described by humans as “sweet” and “bitter” respectively). Nor did we find alterations in anxiety-like behavior during an elevated plus maze or an open field test. Finally, preference for a diet high in fat was not altered. Discussion Overall our data suggest that ABA exposure during adolescence impairs contextual learning in adulthood without altering spatial leaning, taste, anxiety, or fat preference.

Sexually dimorphic behavioral effects of maternal separation in anorexic rats

“…A study on ABA mice showed that food restriction evoked hyperactivity in the running wheel and a decrease in anxiety-like behavior in EPM and OF tests (Wable, Min, Chen, & Aoki, 2015). However, other authors were not able to show ABA-induced anxiety-like behavior in adult rats (Boersma et al, 2016;Lee and Kinzig, 2017) demonstrated that a single ABA session was not enough to induce an increase in anxiety-like behaviors in adulthood. The authors hypothesized that a cumulative effect of multiple exposures to ABA in adolescence or other stressful physiological or psychological conditions could be necessary to induce a behavioral effect.…”

Learning deficits in rats overexpressing the dopamine transporter

“…The task procedure consisted of three phases: habituation, familiarization, and test phase. Open-field analysis were conducted the day before NOR, and thereby considered as habituation to the test environment 49 . During familiarization, two objects ( A + A′ ) different in colour and size were placed in the OF arena on opposite corners with a distance of 20 cm from the walls.…”

Activity Based Anorexia as an Animal Model for Anorexia Nervosa–A Systematic Review

“…Animals showed reduced ERbeta signaling in the amygdala using quantitative real-time PCR; however, ovariectomy was unable to prevent long-term behavioral changes (97). Strikingly, another study showed no effect of ABA on anxiety-like behavior as assessed using the elevated plus maze and open field test (49). Refeeding without wheel access after ABA decreased horizontal activity and exploratory horizontal behavior (13).…”