Research Project

Gut-Brain Interoception in Anorexia Nervosa

Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a severe, enduring, and often treatment-refractory eating disorder. We hypothesize that abnormal gut-brain signaling underlies the fear of eating and interoceptive dysregulation in AN, serving to maintain the illness. Using a novel ingestible vibrating capsule to probe gut mechanosensation, combined with EEG and computational modeling, we are characterizing gut-brain phenotypes and evaluating potential biomarkers of illness and treatment response.

Methods Used

Key Findings

Combining the vibrating capsule with EEG identified a “gastric-evoked potential” (GEP) in the brain in parieto-occipital scalp leads (Nature Communications 2023). Our ongoing National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded R01 project leverages this protocol to identify potential biomarkers of illness and treatment response.

Key publications

Nat Commun 2023 (doi:10.1038/s41467-023-39058-4); EClinicalMedicine 2023 (doi:10.1016/j.eclinm.2023.102173); Gastroenterology 2025 (doi:10.1053/j.gastro.2025.04.002)

Funding source(s)

R01MH127225 (NIMH); BSF 2023143 (US-Israel Binational Science Foundation); K23MH112949 (completed)

Collaborators

  • Martin Paulus (LIBR);
  • Justin Feinstein (LIBR);
  • Walter Kaye (UCSD);
  • Galia Avidan (BSF grant co-MPI)