Am J Psychiatry 1982; 139:643-645
Copyright © 1982 by American Psychiatric Association
Cerebrospinal fluid opioid activity in anorexia nervosa
WH Kaye, D Pickar, D Naber and MH Ebert
The authors found higher levels of CSF opioid activity, determined by
radioreceptor assay, in patients with anorexia nervosa who were severely
underweight than in 1) the same patients after weight restoration and 2)
normal controls. Another group of patients who had chronic anorexia nervosa
but were not severely underweight had normal levels of CSF opioid activity.
Endogenous opioid systems have been shown to be related to eating behavior
and metabolic regulation in animals. The association between decreased
weight and increased CSF opioid activity observed by the authors may be a
compensatory response to weight loss or may be etiologically related to
anorexia nervosa.
