Rats and frosting help to find genetic causes of binge-eating

Summary: Kelly L. Klump and her team at Michigan State University used rats in an experiment to help determine the genetic and biological causes/contributing factors to binge eating. Based on previous research, Klump knew that genes play a role in binge eating but did not know which specific human genes were the contributors. She used two different strains of rats, Sprague-Dawley and Wistar rats, to see if one strain was more prone to the eating disorder than the other. If one strain was more prone, then that could narrow down potential genes that influenced the binge eating. To test this, Klump gave the rats their regular food but also gave them vanilla frosting every other day, in order to mimic binge eating. The results showed that the Sprague-Dawley female rats had a much higher rate of binge eating the vanilla frosting than the other rats. With this information Klump and her team will study the strain's genes with the hope of narrowing down the genes that may be contributing to the disease.

Connection: This article connects with our current unit on humans and their nutrition. Binge eating, the condition being researched by Kelly Klump, is when someone consumes excessive Calories. We learned that Calories are a measure of the energy content of food. Humans must consume a certain amount of Calories in order to carry out metabolic processes and to be in a state of homeostasis, but consuming too many calories can lead to obesity and can cause a state of homeostatic imbalance. This article also relates to unit 6, molecular genetics. According to Klump's studies, binge-eating is not just psychological but also hereditary. In class we have learned about many hereditary disorders and how genes are passed on.

Author: N/A
Date Published: March 4, 2014
Link: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/03/140304130035.htm