Sex differences in hedonic and homeostatic aspects of palatable food motivation

Tapia, Melissa A.; Lee, Jenna R.; Weise, Valerie N.; Tamasi, Anna M.; Will, Melissa L.

doi:10.1016/j.bbr.2018.11.023

Cited by 25 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…One of the studies testing the taste preference for glucose or saccharine solutions demonstrated that female rats were more attracted to sweetness in oral solutions than males [25]. Similar results have been reported in other conditions with food [26]. However, in contrast to bitterness, results related to sweetness and sex seem to be more difficult to extrapolate from this model to human behavior.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 54%

Sex Differences in Medicine Acceptability: A New Factor to Be Considered in Medicine Formulation

Ruiz¹,

Keeley²,

Léglise

et al. 2019

Pharmaceutics

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Palatability is a recognized driver of medicine acceptability in pediatrics but deemed less relevant in older populations due to sensory decline. Preliminary findings from an observational study implicated palatability problems with one Alzheimer’s medicine. Among 1517 observer reports combining multiple measures on medicines uses in patients aged over 64, we focused on two original formulations of memantine (Ebixa®, tablets (n = 25) and oral solution (n = 60)). Evaluations were scored with an acceptability reference framework (CAST), the rodent Brief Access Taste Aversion (BATA) model tested aversiveness. Focusing on women treated with Ebixa® (n = 54), the oral formulation sub-group was classified as “negatively accepted”, while the coated tablet was associated with the “positively accepted” cluster. In men, both formulations belonged to the “positively accepted” profile. Using BATA, the original oral solution was categorized as highly aversive/untolerated while solutions of excipients only were well tolerated. Furthermore, the number of licks was significantly lower in female than in male rats. These results revealed that medicine palatability remains important for acceptability in older populations. Moreover, converging results from humans and animal models highlighted that palatability profiles can significantly vary between the sexes. These drivers should be closely considered during drug development to enhance acceptability in this population.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 54%

Sex Differences in Medicine Acceptability: A New Factor to Be Considered in Medicine Formulation

Ruiz¹,

Keeley²,

Léglise

et al. 2019

Pharmaceutics

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“…In our study, females consistently showed elevated reward seeking behavior during the reward cue compared to males beginning in the second reward pre-training session. This data appears consistent with reward studies showing significant sex differences in response to sucrose, with females willing to work more for sucrose in a progressive ratio paradigm (Tapia et al, 2019), and in response to drugs of abuse, with female rats consistently self-administering drugs more rapidly than males (Becker & Koob, 2016). The increased reward seeking in females seen in our study remained until the end of the first DC session at which point they were equivalent to the males.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

“…A more recent experiment has identified that approximately 40% of female rats tested exhibit an alternate fear behavior in the form of fast paced movements called ‘darting’; this was only seen in approximately 10% of male rats tested (Gruene et al, 2015). There is also evidence of sex differences in the seeking of natural rewards, where it has been reported that female rats consume more sucrose pellets than males and are willing to work harder for them (Tapia, Lee, Weise, Tamasi, & Will, 2019). Dopamine signaling during reward tasks has also been demonstrated to be different between sexes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sex differences in fear regulation and reward seeking behaviors in a fear-safety-reward discrimination task

Greiner

Norris

Müller

et al. 2018

Preprint

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Reward availability and the potential for danger or safety potently regulates emotion. Despite women being more likely than men to develop emotion dysregulation disorders, there are comparatively few studies investigating fear, safety and reward regulation in females. Here, we show that female Long Evans rats do not suppress conditioned freezing in the presence of a safety cue, nor do they extinguish their freezing response, whereas males do both. Females were also more reward responsive during the reward cue until the first footshock exposure, at which point there were no sex differences in reward seeking to the reward cue. Darting analyses indicate females might be able to regulate this behavior in response to the safety cue, suggesting they might be able to discriminate between fear and safety cues but do not demonstrate this with conditioned suppression of the freezing behavior. However, levels of darting in this study were too low to make any clear conclusions. In summary, females showed a significantly different behavioral profile than males in a task that tests the ability to discriminate among fear, safety and reward cues. This paradigm offers a great opportunity to test for mechanisms that are generating these behavioral sex differences in learned safety and reward seeking.

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“…Although both male and female WR rats reversed their initial avoidance for HF diet, there was a sex difference in which the reversal of HF diet avoidance occurred with females reversing earlier than males. One potential explanation for this sex difference is that females are more prone to hedonic and binge eating than males [101,102] and their feeding behavior appears to be driven by palatability rather than physiological hunger or metabolic state [103,104]. Both of these factors could act together and exacerbate the development of obesity [56,57], which is more prevalent in females [105].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sex-Dependent Wheel Running Effects on High Fat Diet Preference, Metabolic Outcomes, and Performance on the Barnes Maze in Rats

2020

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Excessive and prolonged intake of highly palatable, high fat (HF) foods contributes to the pathogenesis of obesity, metabolic syndrome, and cognitive impairment. Exercise can restore energy homeostasis and suppress HF diet preference in rats. However, it is unclear if exercise confers similar protection against the detrimental outcomes associated with a chronic HF diet preference and feeding in both sexes. We used our wheel running (WR) and two-diet choice (chow vs. HF) paradigm to investigate the efficacy of exercise in reversing HF diet-associated metabolic and cognitive dysregulation in rats, hypothesizing that beneficial effects of exercise would be more pronounced in males. All WR rats showed HF diet avoidance upon running initiation, and males, but not females, had a prolonged reduction in HF diet preference. Moreover, exercise only improved glucose tolerance and insulin profile in males. Compared to sedentary controls, all WR rats improved learning to escape on the Barnes maze. Only WR females increased errors made during subsequent reversal learning trials, indicating a sex-dependent effect of exercise on behavioral flexibility. Taken together, our results suggest that exercise is more effective at attenuating HF-associated metabolic deficits in males, and highlights the importance of developing sex-specific treatment interventions for obesity and cognitive dysfunction.

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Sex differences in hedonic and homeostatic aspects of palatable food motivation

Cited by 25 publications

References 44 publications

Sex Differences in Medicine Acceptability: A New Factor to Be Considered in Medicine Formulation

Sex Differences in Medicine Acceptability: A New Factor to Be Considered in Medicine Formulation

Sex differences in fear regulation and reward seeking behaviors in a fear-safety-reward discrimination task

Sex-Dependent Wheel Running Effects on High Fat Diet Preference, Metabolic Outcomes, and Performance on the Barnes Maze in Rats

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