ABSTRACT
Recent research has led to remarkable advances in the methodology and knowledge of the psychobiology of eating disorders. Researchers and clinicians now possess a great deal of information about the regulation of neurotransmitters, neuropeptides, neurohormones and also peripheral peptides that influence
energy metabolism, eating behavior, cognitive functioning and mood. Interestingly, this availability of knowledge and the advances in technology are the necessary conditions which enable us to understand the connections between neurobiology and the clinical aspects of eating disorders, including diagnostic characteristics, comorbidity, outcome and etiopathogenesis. One of the aims of the recent research is to establish the role of the pathophysiology of neurobiological systems in the development and maintenance of eating disorders. The first step is to determine whether neurobiological alterations are a consequence or a potential cause of pathological eating behavior or malnutrition. Moreover, biological (and psychological) disturbances observed in eating disorders might be trait or state based. In the first case, neurobiological variants and alterations represent candidate endophenotypes of eating disorders that need to be characterized and studied with regard to their origin and distribution in the family and in the population.
