Background
Vagal activation in the cephalic phase response to food ingestion promotes ghrelin
secretion. Because underweight individuals with anorexia nervosa (AN) are characterized
by increased vagal tone, we hypothesized an enhanced ghrelin production in the cephalic
phase of vagal stimulation. Therefore, we investigated the responses of ghrelin and
its recently discovered sibling peptide obestatin to modified sham feeding (MSF) in
both AN and healthy women.
Methods
Eight AN women and eight age-matched healthy female subjects underwent MSF, with initially
seeing and smelling a meal and then chewing the food without swallowing it. Blood
samples were drawn before and after MSF for hormone assays.
Results
Circulating ghrelin increased, whereas obestatin decreased after MSF. Compared with
healthy women, AN individuals exhibited enhanced ghrelin and obestatin baseline plasma
levels and amplified MSF-induced ghrelin increase and obestatin drop. Ghrelin secretion
positively correlated with subjects' eating behavior as assessed by the Three-Factor
Eating Questionnaire.
Conclusions
Opposite changes in circulating ghrelin and obestatin occur in the cephalic phase
of vagal stimulation, and these changes are amplified in symptomatic AN patients.
Given the opposite effects of ghrelin and obestatin on food intake, these findings
may have pathophysiologic implications for the dysregulated eating behavior of AN
individuals.
Key Words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: May 13, 2008
Accepted:
April 8,
2008
Received in revised form:
April 1,
2008
Received:
February 28,
2008
Identification
Copyright
© 2008 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
