Neurobiology of eating disorders

Ellison, A.R., and Fong, J., Neuroimaging in eating disorders. In Hoek, H.W, Treasure, J.L., and Katzman, M.A. eds. Neurobiology in the Treatment of Eating Disorders. Chichester John Wiley... 

The neurobiological knowledge, however, is far less developed. As all motivated behavior is accompanied by release of dopamine in the mesolimbic structures, we would expect this also to occur in these cases. The assumption is confirmed by preliminary research, but the significance of the findings is far from clear. In addition, some types of eating disorder seem to involve serotonergic disturbances. Little is known about neuroadaptive mechanisms. Since these behaviors do not involve a chemical substance introduced into the nervous system, there must obviously be some paradigmatic differences. Nevertheless, a shared mechanism related to disturbances in the dopamine-mediated motivational areas is likely, whereas the contributory mechanisms in all probability are different. 

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