Taking better advantage of the activity-based anorexia model

Precipitous weight loss is proposed to occur in activity-based anorexia (ABA) due to an impairment in decision-making.Repeated exposure to ABA conditions, punctuated by periods of weight recovery, may better capture the chronic and relapsing nature of anorexia nervosa (AN).The rapid evolution of precise tools to manipulate and record brain function, and the development of systems to assess complex cognitive behaviour without experimenter intervention, provide an opportunity to take better advantage of the ABA model to identify factors that predispose individuals to AN and develop novel treatments.Emerging knowledge about the genetic drivers of AN should be incorporated into the development of novel animal models to examine their causal role in anorectic pathologies. In addition, genetic factors associated with susceptibility to ABA could inform the interpretation of new results from genome-wide association study (GWAS) screens. The lack of specific treatments for anorexia nervosa (AN) is partly driven by an inadequate understanding of the neurobiological drivers of the condition. The activity-based anorexia (ABA) model recapitulates key characteristics of AN in rats and mice, and can be used to understand factors that predispose, maintain, and rescue anorectic behaviour. With the rapidly evolving suite of technologies to manipulate and record neural activity during the development of ABA, we are better placed than ever before to take advantage of this unique biobehavioural model in order to develop and refine novel treatments for AN. This will require a collective effort to bridge research disciplines in order to capitalise on knowledge gains from genetics, neurobiology, metabolism, and cognition. The lack of specific treatments for anorexia nervosa (AN) is partly driven by an inadequate understanding of the neurobiological drivers of the condition. The activity-based anorexia (ABA) model recapitulates key characteristics of AN in rats and mice, and can be used to understand factors that predispose, maintain, and rescue anorectic behaviour. With the rapidly evolving suite of technologies to manipulate and record neural activity during the development of ABA, we are better placed than ever before to take advantage of this unique biobehavioural model in order to develop and refine novel treatments for AN. This will require a collective effort to bridge research disciplines in order to capitalise on knowledge gains from genetics, neurobiology, metabolism, and