Objective
"My project aims at gathering new evidence to treat a major health concern: Eating disorders, including anorexia and bulimia nervosa and food bingeing leading to obesity. Following up on our parallel results showing an addictive component in these disorders and a dual role for serotonin (5-HT) in feeding, we postulate that the transition from the abusive consumption of food (food bingeing) towards excessive food deprivation (anorexia-like behavior), depends on the constitutive activity of the 5-HT-4 receptors (5-HTR4) and on changes from its inactive (R) towards its active state (R*) within the nucleus accumbens (NAc), a structure of the brain’s reward system.
To demonstrate that the constitutive activity of 5-HTR4 in the NAc switches the direction of the addiction to food, I will modify the 5-HTR4 activity state using specific pharmacological treatments (from inverse agonist to overexpression) infused in the NAc of behaving brain-specific 5-HT deficient mice (Tph2-/-). Since my preliminary results show that Tph2-/- display feeding alterations (opposite in Tph2-/- and +/-), my first and second objectives will further characterize in detail their feeding pattern and its correlation with 5-HTR4 density in the NAc, body weight and fat storage. My third and fourth objectives test whether infusion of 5-HTR4 inverse agonist (decreased constitutive activity) and 5-HTR4 overexpression (increased constitutive activity) in the NAc induce respectively food bingeing and food refusal via the molecular cascade: cAMP-CART-FosB-ΔFosB. My experiments will show that controls of the “accumbal addiction pathway” by R and R* 5-HTR4 states are opposed and control the intake of food. Finally, I will realize a preclinical study and pave the way for the first clinical study using 5-HTR4 drugs to treat eating disorders. The realization of this innovative interdisciplinary project is a step further to cure eating disorders and will increase my professional maturity and European excellence."
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
FP7-PEOPLE-2012-IEF
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Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Coordinator
75794 PARIS
France
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.