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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2024 Jun 1.
Published in final edited form as: Behav Neurosci. 2023 Feb 23;137(3):170–177. doi: 10.1037/bne0000550

Examination of Onset Trajectories and Persistence of Binge-Like Eating Behavior in Mice after Intermittent Palatable Food Exposure

Britny A Hildebrandt 1, Hayley Fisher 1, Susanne E Ahmari 1,2
PMCID: PMC10191968  NIHMSID: NIHMS1864555  PMID: 36821355

Abstract

Binge eating is a persistent behavior associated with a chronic course of illness and poor treatment outcomes. While clinical research is unable to capture the full course of binge eating, pre-clinical approaches offer the opportunity to examine binge-like eating from onset through chronic durations, allowing identification of factors contributing to binge eating persistence. The current study quantified the trajectories of binge-like eating onset and modeled cycles of abstinence/relapse to develop a translational model for binge eating persistence. Adult male and female C57Bl6/J mice were randomized to a binge-like palatable food access schedule (daily 2-hour, 3x/week) or continuous, non-binge like palatable food access for 12 days (Experiment 1). Persistence of palatable food consumption in both binge-like palatable food access groups was then examined across three cycles of forced abstinence and re-exposure to palatable food (incubation) to model the persistence of binge eating in clinical populations. Mice with daily 2-hour palatable food access escalated their intake more than mice in the 3x/week or continuous groups (Experiment 1). This pattern was more pronounced in females. In addition, this pattern of palatable food intake re-emerged across multiple cycles of behavioral incubation (Experiment 2). These findings provide a model of binge-like eating in mice that can be used in future studies examining both environmental factors and neural mechanisms contributing to binge eating persistence.

Keywords: binge eating, feeding behavior, palatable food

Binge eating is a compulsive behavior with a chronic and persistent course (Pope et al., 2006). Though binge eating age of onset is often characterized as early adulthood (between 17-22 years of age) (Solmi et al., 2022), a significantly younger onset has also been suggested during childhood and early adolescence (Kjeldbjerg & Clausen, 2021). Critically, longer trajectories of binge eating illness are associated with poorer treatment outcomes (Vall & Wade, 2015). Despite the significant impact of binge eating on quality of life and its typical chronicity (Agh et al., 2015), little is known about the mechanisms underlying the persistence of binge eating. Approaches that model trajectories of binge eating from onset through chronic persistence are needed to determine these mechanisms.

Current limitations of clinical human research prohibit capturing a complete duration of binge eating illness from the first episode across the often chronic course of illness (Keski-Rahkonen, 2021). Large cohort studies recruiting individuals before the development of binge eating are unable to predict how many participants will eventually engage in the behavior; and longitudinal studies recruit individuals already engaging in binge eating, missing important factors associated with onset. Because of these limitations, it is challenging to isolate neural and behavioral changes associated with the complete trajectory of binge eating development. However, pre-clinical methods offer a unique opportunity to longitudinally examine binge-like eating from the first episode through chronic duration.

Current pre-clinical approaches for examining binge-like eating in rodents have successfully modeled core components of the clinical presentation of binge eating (as reviewed in Hildebrandt & Ahmari, 2021). These paradigms generate binge-like eating in rodents through intermittent (rather than continuous) exposure to highly palatable food (i.e., typically high in sweetness, and low in nutritional value) (Boggiano et al., 2007; Furlong et al., 2014; Hildebrandt et al., 2014; Hildebrandt et al., 2018). Additionally, these models yield large amounts of palatable food consumed within a set short period of time (approximately two hours), modeling the typical phenotype seen in humans (American Psychiatric Association, 2013); and precise quantification of food intake is also possible. This prior work has provided a significant foundation of modeling binge-like eating in rodents that has advanced our understanding of behavioral and neural mechanisms underlying binge eating episodes.

Despite these advances, no pre-clinical work to date has successfully modeled persistence of binge-like eating over time, limiting translation to humans. Specifically, after childhood onset, binge eating tends to persist or worsen over time rather than remit/improve (Goldschmidt et al., 2016). Earlier age of binge eating onset is also associated with poorer treatment outcomes (Safer et al., 2002), leading to a chronic course of illness that persists into adulthood. Additionally, there are moderate rates of relapse (~30%) after cognitive behavioral treatment (Fairburn et al., 1993) and pharmacological treatment (Hudson et al., 2017), suggesting that binge eating persistence remains an important clinical target even after effective treatment intervention. Pre-clinical models that display not only the onset and development of binge eating, but also the cyclic nature of remission and re-emergence, are therefore necessary to identify mechanisms contributing to binge eating persistence that may serve as treatment targets.

The aim of the current study was to develop a pre-clinical model of binge eating persistence in mice to mimic the cyclical nature of clinical binge eating. To achieve this goal, we first examined the onset and early intake trajectories of palatable food in two different binge-like intermittent palatable food access schedules (daily intermittent, 3x/week) compared to non-binge like continuous palatable food access in both male and female mice. Second, we examined the persistence of these binge-like palatable food access schedules across multiple cycles of incubation and re-exposure to palatable food to mimic the re-emergence of binge eating seen in humans after treatment (Fairburn et al., 1993). We found that daily intermittent palatable food access, rather than 3x/week or continuous access, leads to the most robust increase in palatable food intake reflective of binge eating. Additionally, though persistent patterns of palatable food intake were observed in animals in both the daily intermittent and 3x/week groups, the daily intermittent group continued to consume the highest amounts of palatable food during testing. All patterns of binge-like eating were stronger in female versus male mice. Together, these findings help validate a pre-clinical model that can be used as a foundation for future studies targeting the mechanisms underlying binge eating persistence.

Materials and Methods

Animals

Adult male and female C57BL6/J mice (Jackson Laboratories or in-house bred) were used for all experiments. Mice were group housed with 3-5 mice per cage and given ad libitum access to standard chow and water for the entirety of the study. Animals were maintained on a 12/12 hour light-dark cycle (lights on at 7:00 AM; off at 7:00 PM). All experiments were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee at the University of Pittsburgh in compliance with National Institutes of Health guidelines for the care and use of laboratory animals.

Experiment 1: Examination of early trajectories of binge-like eating in male and female mice

The binge eating paradigm used across all experiments is based on previous work using intermittent palatable food access schedules in rodents (see review in Hildebrandt & Ahmari, 2021). Intermittent palatable food access schedules mimic multiple features of binge eating in humans– e.g., binge eating is episodic and occurs over a short (~two hour) period of time (American Psychiatric Association, 2013), and individuals consume food that is typically low in nutrition but high in palatability (Boggiano et al., 2007; Furlong et al., 2014; Hildebrandt et al., 2014; Hildebrandt et al., 2018). For the first experiment, male and female C57BL6/J mice were randomized to one of three groups: 1) Daily intermittent (N = 3 male, 5 female), in which animals received binge-like intermittent access to palatable food daily for 2 hours; 2) 3x/week (N = 3 male, 5 female), in which animals received binge-like intermittent access to palatable food on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for 2 hours; or 3) Continuous access control (N = 4 male, 4 female), in which animals received ongoing continuous (24 hour), non-intermittent access to palatable food. The palatable food used in this paradigm was sweetened condensed milk (Nestle), diluted in a 3:1 ratio with water (Furlong et al., 2014). All mice had ad libitum access to standard chow and water throughout the paradigm regardless of access schedule, and animals were never placed on food restriction.

Mice were removed from group-housed conditions, weighed, and placed in individual cages for the duration of each 2-hour feeding test. Feeding tests occurred each day of the paradigm for the continuous and daily intermittent groups, and every Monday/Wednesday/Friday for the 3x/week group. palatable food was provided in a 50-milliliter conical tube with sipper attachment. Chow was available ad libitum for the duration of the feeding test. palatable food and chow were weighed at the beginning and end of the 2-hour feeding test. Mice were then returned to group home cages. Continuous access mice also had a 50-milliliter tube containing sweetened condensed milk in the home cage for the other 22-hours per day (i.e. when not performing feeding tests), and this tube was weighed daily. This schedule was executed for 12 days resulting in a total of 12 feeding tests for the daily intermittent group, 6 feeding tests for the 3x/week group, and 12 feeding tests plus 12 days of 24-hour palatable food exposure in the continuous group.

Experiment 2: Incubation and persistence trajectories of binge-like eating phenotypes

In a new cohort, adult male and female C57BL6/J mice were randomized to one of the two binge-like palatable food access groups described above: 1) Daily intermittent 2-hour (N = 3 male, 4 female), or 2) 3x/week (N = 3 male, 5 female) to examine persistence of binge eating phenotypes over time. After completion of a 12 day period of feeding tests following procedures described above in Experiment 1 (Baseline phase), animals remained in group home cages with no feeding tests for 5 days. During this 5 day period without access to palatable food, animals continued to have access to chow and water. Animals were never placed on food restriction. On Day 6, animals engaged in an additional five days of feeding tests (Incubation Phase), which included a total of five feeding tests for daily intermittent animals and three feeding tests for 3x/week animals. This cycle of forced abstinence and re-exposure to palatable food was repeated for two more 5-day cycles (total of three 5-day cycles during Incubation Phase). Body weight, palatable food intake, and chow intake were measured as described above.

Statistical Analyses

To account for differences in body weight between male and female mice, all food intake (palatable food and chow) was standardized by body weight prior to analysis (standardized intake = [grams of palatable food or chow intake] / [body weight in kilograms]). For all binge eating paradigm data (palatable food intake, chow intake, body weight), multilevel regressions were run using a full factorial analysis and all categorical predictors were effect coded. For all analyses, the residual distributions were examined for normality and homoscedasticity. All group analysis models met the assumptions. For Experiment 1, predictors included the between-subjects categorical variables Group (continuous, daily intermittent, 3x/week) and Sex (female, male), and the within-subjects continuous variable Day. The random effects structure included an intercept (Subject) and slope (Day). For Experiment 2, predictors included the between-subjects categorical variables Group (daily intermittent, 3x/week) and Sex (female, male), the within-subjects categorical variable Cycle (Cycle 1, Cycle 2, Cycle 3), and the continuous variable Day. Planned comparisons were run for significant interactions including Group or Sex using Type III Sums of Squares. All data were analyzed using R (R 4.0.3). The highest order significant interactions (p < 0.05) including the variables Group and Sex were followed by planned comparisons using R’s emmeans or emtrends package. Results are visually presented as raw data mean ± SEM and the model fit mean ± SEM.

Results

Daily intermittent palatable food access leads to the most robust increase in binge-like eating

A Group × Sex × Day regression for palatable food intake showed a significant Group × Day interaction, (χ2(2) = 27.65, p < 0.01) and Group × Sex interaction, (χ2(2) = 9.29, p < 0.01). Inspection of the data leading to the Group x Day interaction indicated that mice in the daily intermittent group escalated their palatable food consumption across days (t(18.1) = 4.94, p < 0.01) compared to the continuous group (Figure 1B). There were also trends towards the 3x/week intermittent access group escalating their palatable food consumption compared to the continuous group (t(18.1) = 2.46, p = 0.06), and the daily intermittent group consuming more than the 3x/week group (t(17.5) = 2.47, p = 0.06). However, the daily intermittent group demonstrated the most robust increase in palatable food intake over time. Further examining potential sex differences in the behavioral response to palatable food access schedules, the Group × Sex interaction revealed that females in both the daily intermittent group (t(17.8) = 5.80, p < 0.01) and the 3x/week group (t(17.8) = 3.54, p < 0.01) consumed significantly more palatable food than the continuous group (Figure 1C). Additionally, females in the daily intermittent group trended towards consuming more palatable food than the 3x/week group (t(17.8) = 2.40, p = 0.07), consistent with the results in Figure 1B. In contrast, there were no differences in palatable food intake between groups in males (all p > 0.25; Figure 1C). Finally, there was a trend towards higher palatable food consumption in the daily intermittent group in females vs. males (t(17.8) = 1.98, p = 0.06) despite all palatable food intake being standardized by body weight prior to analysis. Together, these results support the presence of sex differences in this model, similar to binge eating in humans (Klump et al., 2017) and rats (Klump et al., 2013).

Figure 1. Early trajectories of palatable food intake, chow intake, and body weight across binge-like eating phenotypes.

Figure 1

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Note. All intake standardized by body weight (g/kg). Sample sizes across groups: daily N = 3 male, 5 female; 3x/week = 3 male, 5 female; continuous = 4 male, 4 female. Data shown is raw data. Inset in each figure represents model fit from regression analyses. A) Study timeline. Each small box represents one day. B) The daily group (blue) significantly escalated palatable food consumption across days vs. the continuous group (gray) (p < 0.01). C) females in both the daily group (blue) (p < 0.01) and the 3x/week group (purple) (p < 0.01) consumed significantly more palatable food than the continuous group. No differences in palatable food intake between males (all p > 0.25). D) Chow intake decreased across study days for all groups (p < 0.01). E) Males weighed more than females (p < 0.01), and both males and females in the continuous group showed increased weight over time (p’s < 0.01).

While results showed a sex difference in consumption of palatable food, there were no significant main effects or interactions for chow intake (including Group or Sex; all p > .1). However, there was a main effect of time, with chow intake decreasing across all groups across study days (χ2(2) = 6.12, p < 0.01; Figure 1D). There was also a significant main effect of Sex for body weight showing that males weighed more than females as expected (χ2(1) = 43.04, p < 0.01; Figure 1D), and a significant Group × Day interaction (χ2(2) = 90.58, p < 0.01) such that body weight increased over time in the continuous group compared to the daily intermittent (t(18) = 8.04, p < 0.01) and 3x/week (t(18) = 8.29, p < 0.01) groups (Figure 1E).

Patterns of binge-like eating persist across cycles of re-exposure to palatable food in mice with history of intermittent palatable food exposure

Baseline Phase

Results for palatable food intake during the Baseline Phase (i.e., first 12 days) of a new cohort largely replicated the findings reported in Figure 1B (Figure 2). There were significant Group × Day (χ2(1) = 24.55, p < 0.01) and Group × Sex (χ2(1) = 15.77, p < 0.01) interactions. The Group × Day interaction showed that the daily intermittent group escalated palatable food consumption across days more than the 3x/week group (t(11.4) = 4.61, p < 0.01). The Group × Sex interaction revealed that females consumed more palatable food than males in the daily intermittent group (t(11.6) = 5.21, p < 0.01), but there were no differences between males and females in the 3x/week group (t(11) = 0.10, p = 0.93) (Figure 2B, Baseline). Unlike the previous experiment where there was a decrease in chow intake over time, here there were no significant main effects or interactions of Group, Sex or Day in chow consumption (all p > 0.10).

Figure 2. Patterns of palatable food intake across multiple incubation cycles in two binge-like intermittent schedules.

Figure 2

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Note. All intake standardized by body weight (g/kg). Sample sizes across groups: daily N = 3 male, 4 female; 3x/week = 3 male, 5 female. Data shown is raw data. Inset in each figure represents model fit from regression analyses. A) Timeline for Baseline and Incubation cycles 1-3. B) During Baseline, the daily group escalated palatable food intake more than the 3x/week group (p < .01), and females in the daily palatable food group consumed significantly more palatable food than males in the daily group (p < .01). Patterns were similar across incubation cycles, with the daily group showing escalated palatable food intake more than the 3x/week group (p < .01). Females also continued to consume the highest amount of palatable food (p < .01).

In addition, there was a significant Group × Sex interaction for body weight, (χ2(1) = 4.30, p = 0.04). Planned comparisons showed that males weighed more than females in both the daily intermittent (t(11) = 4.73, p < 0.01), and the 3x/week groups (t(11) = 2.62, p = 0.02) as expected. While there was a significant Sex × Day interaction, (χ2(1) = 4.47, p = 0.03), planned comparisons found a nonsignificant trend towards males’ weight increasing more across days than females’ (t(11) = 2.06, p = 0.06).

Incubation Phase

There was a significant Group × Day interaction (χ2(1) = 27.85, p < 0.01) and Group x Sex interaction (χ2(1) = 4.58, p = 0.04) for palatable food intake across the incubation phase, showing that the daily intermittent group escalated their consumption across days more than the 3x/week group (t(10.9) = 4.88, p < 0.01), regardless of sex (Figure 2, Cycles 1-3). The Group x Sex interaction revealed that females consumed more palatable food than males within the daily intermittent group (t(11) = 4.19, p < 0.01), but not the 3x/week group (t(10.9) = 1.32, p = 0.21). Females in the daily intermittent group also consumed more palatable food than females in the 3x/week group (t(11.1) = 6.01, p < 0.01). This pattern of the daily intermittent group consuming more palatable food than the 3x/week group was also seen in the males, but it was only marginally significant (t(10.9) = 2.20, p = 0.0501). Interestingly, there was a significant Group × Sex × Cycle interaction (χ2(1) = 4.18, p = .04) found for chow intake. While planned comparisons showed no significant differences, results showed that the interaction was driven by males in the daily intermittent group which trended towards eating more chow during the second incubation cycle (t(10.84) = 1.92, p = 0.08).

Results showed a significant Group × Cycle interaction (χ2(2) = 16.89, p < 0.01), and Sex × Day interaction (χ2(2) = 19.45, p < 0.01) for body weight across cycles. The Sex × Day interaction showed that males’ body weights increased across days at a higher rate than females (t(11) = 4.44, p < 0.01). The Group × Cycle interaction showed that the groups did not differ within each cycle (all p > 0.10). However, weights increased across cycles within the 3x/week group (all p < 0.05). Body weight in the daily intermittent group increased between Cycle 1 and 2 (t(11) = 3.45, p = 0. 01), and Cycle 1 and 3 (t(11) = 4.96, p < 0.01), but not Cycle 2 and 3 (t(11) = 1.98, p = 0.16).

Discussion

Pre-clinical approaches are uniquely suited to study the onset, development, and persistence of binge eating like behavior in a controlled setting. Here we examined three different palatable food access schedules in both male and female mice to identify a schedule that yields a robust and persistent pattern of binge-like eating. In the first 12 days of the binge eating paradigm, mice with daily intermittent access to palatable food escalated their intake more than mice in the 3x/week or continuous groups (Figure 1B, Figure 2B). This pattern was more pronounced in the female versus male mice (Figure 1C). Novel findings from the current study showed that not only did female mice in the daily intermittent group consume significantly more palatable food than female mice in the 3x/week group during the Baseline phase, this pattern re-emerged across multiple incubation cycles (Figure 2B, Cycles 1-3). This model may therefore serve as a critical tool to advance in our understanding of binge eating persistence in future studies. While pre-clinical studies examining binge eating persistence across cycles are limited, models for substance use often use incubation/re-exposure models to examine persistence of drug use (Freeman et al., 2008; Gobin et al., 2019; Guillem et al., 2014), providing further support for the potential benefits of this paradigm in understanding binge eating persistence.

Our findings across experiments provide support for this model’s utility in quantifying binge eating onset and palatable food consumption trajectories, particularly in female mice. Results showed that mice with daily intermittent exposure to palatable food show the most robust increase in palatable food intake, extending previous work using daily intermittent palatable food access to elicit binge-like eating in rodents (e.g., Bake et al., 2013; Berner et al., 2008; Doucette et al., 2015). Additionally, female mice with daily intermittent palatable food access consumed significantly more palatable food than females with continuous access, consistent with findings in male rats where daily intermittent, rather than continuous, access resulted in higher palatable food intake (Furlong et al., 2014). Finally, daily intermittent access female mice consumed significantly more palatable food than daily intermittent access male mice, supporting previously identified sex differences in binge-like eating in rats (females > males) (Klump et al., 2013). Our results align with the clinical presentation of binge eating –i.e. intermittent, rather than continuous, in nature, with episodes that are typically around two hours in duration (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Additionally, there are sex differences observed in humans that engage in binge eating (females > males) (Klump et al., 2017; Striegel-Moore et al., 2009). In addition to modeling the clinical phenotype, this model to quantify early palatable food intake escalation may predict if an animal is at higher risk of persistent binge-like eating during the incubation phase. Identifying these early at-risk phenotypes may guide development of early interventions for binge eating, particularly in high-risk populations.

This work also advances our ability to model persistence of binge eating using pre-clinical approaches. Recent work found that during a one day re-exposure test after incubation of binge-like eating, mice consumed similar amounts or more palatable food compared to the last day of baseline tests, highlighting the potential to examine binge eating persistence (Sena et al., 2022). The current work expands on this finding by completing three cycles of incubation and re-exposure to palatable food across multiple days to examine not only the amount of palatable food consumed, but the patterns of reemergence and persistence in palatable food intake. This cyclic pattern mimics the remission/relapse observed in clinical binge eating, in which periods of abstinence from binge eating are followed by cycles of relapse after treatment (Fairburn et al., 1993). A similar pattern of abstinence/relapse has been used in studies investigating persistent substance use in pre-clinical models (Marchant et al., 2013). These models have provided important insight into environmental factors (Imperio et al., 2018) and neural mechanisms contributing to various types of relapse (Farrell et al., 2018), as well as pharmacological interventions for substance use (Baek et al., 2022). Our current model will lend itself to similar investigations of the mechanisms that contribute to binge eating persistence, improving our currently limited understanding of treatment targets for binge eating relapse and persistence.

Despite the strengths of the current study, it is important to note the limitations. First, while our model induced persistent binge-like eating after as few as 12 days/6 palatable food exposures, the clinical duration of clinical binge eating illness is typically longer (e.g., average duration of binge-related illnesses has been reported to be ~12-15 years in duration; Udo & Grilo, 2018). Therefore, future studies should examine binge-like eating behavior after chronic engagement in the model, thus extending our findings to a translationally relevant chronic clinical trajectory. Second, our experiment examining binge-like eating phenotypes across multiple cycles of forced abstinence and re-exposure did not include a continuous palatable food access control. While the current study focused on the binge-like eating intermittent access schedules, future work should include a continuous access control to further disentangle the impact of palatable food restriction on re-emergence of the phenotypes. Third, our model uses one palatable food (i.e., sweetened condensed milk) to induce binge-like eating. Clinical binge eating episodes may include a variety of foods, and pre-clinical approaches have used a “cafeteria” style diet to model this type of binge episode in rodents (e.g., Lalanza & Snoeren, 2021). However, these approaches can be labor intensive. Given that mice in the current study developed robust binge-like eating even in the absence of the variety found in human diets, we feel confident that binge-like eating can be easily induced using a single palatable food approach. Finally, while we found significant sex differences in binge-like eating patterns, it is important to note that these experiments had small sample sizes. While our statistical approach was optimized to maximize analytic power, it will be important for future studies using this model to replicate findings in larger samples to confirm findings.

In sum, these experiments identified a pre-clinical approach to quantify early escalation and persistence of binge eating with translational relevance. For example, clinical research has shown that initial severity of binge eating Is associated with binge eating persistence at 1-year follow up (Stice et al., 2021). Our model could be used to identify the neural mechanisms contributing to the early escalation of severe binge-like eating in daily intermittent access female mice and identify neural factors contributing to binge eating persistence using techniques including in vivo calcium imaging and optogenetics. Additionally, impairments in goal-directed behavior in individuals with a history of binge eating has been found (Voon et al., 2015), and pre-clinical work has also shown that a history of intermittent or restricted diets leads to impairment in goal-directed behavior (e.g., Furlong et al., 2014; Parkes et al., 2017). Future work using our model could investigate potential sex differences in goal-directed behavior across cycles of intermittent palatable food access to uncover additional information regarding potential behavioral patterns that contribute to persistent binge eating. Ultimately, translation between pre-clinical and clinical research can lead to identification of unique mechanisms underlying binge eating persistence that can be effectively targeted in treatment.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the BRAIN Initiative and the National Institutes of Health (F32MH118687, T32MH016804 to BH).

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