Automated temporal analysis reveals stress-induced protracted feeding regulated by mesolimbic dopamine in mice
- 1Molecular Neuroscience Research Center, Shiga University of Medical Science, Ōtsu
- 2Hebei Chest Hospital, Shijiazhuang
- 3Department of Aging Neurobiology, Center for Development of Advanced Medicine for Dementia, National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, Ōbu
Abstract
Feeding behavior is altered in neuropsychiatric disorders, and environmental stressors also shape it. In our previous study, mice exposed to multiple stressors developed feeding behavior patterns characterized by a deviated bait approach, which we defined as “fixated feeding,” together with impairment of the mesolimbic dopamine system. Here we examined the temporal organization of feeding behavior using an AI-based analytical framework built on DeepLabCut and SimBA. Mice subjected to social isolation or intermittent high-fat diet (HFD) exposure showed prolonged feeding bouts, a pattern we define as “protracted feeding.” Dopamine administration into the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) shell attenuated diet- and isolation-induced protracted feeding. Physical restraint stress alone did not induce protracted feeding, but mosapride treatment prolonged feeding bouts in restrained mice. Restraint-associated peripheral autonomic and gastrointestinal states may therefore influence the expression of stress-related temporal feeding deviations. In the VTA-DREADD cohort, the same temporal analysis showed that inhibition of VTA dopaminergic activity prolonged feeding bouts. This extends the fixated-feeding circuit framework from the spatial to the temporal domain. These deviations were not consistently accompanied by changes in the amount consumed or in metabolic factors, so alterations in temporal feeding patterns may reflect perturbation of a stress-associated pathway in the mesolimbic dopamine system. Protracted feeding, together with fixated feeding, may serve as a candidate behavioral readout of stress-associated reward-system dysfunction.
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BibTeX
@article{guo2026automated,
title = {{Automated temporal analysis reveals stress-induced protracted feeding regulated by mesolimbic dopamine in mice}},
author = {Xiaokai Guo and Yusuke Fujioka and Kaori Kawai and Shinsuke Ishigaki},
journal = {Frontiers in Neuroscience},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3389/fnins.2026.1959447},
url = {https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnins.2026.1959447/full},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Automated temporal analysis reveals stress-induced protracted feeding regulated by mesolimbic dopamine in mice
AU - Xiaokai Guo
AU - Yusuke Fujioka
AU - Kaori Kawai
AU - Shinsuke Ishigaki
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/20
JO - Frontiers in Neuroscience
DO - 10.3389/fnins.2026.1959447
UR - https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnins.2026.1959447/full
AB - Feeding behavior is altered in neuropsychiatric disorders, and environmental stressors also shape it. In our previous study, mice exposed to multiple stressors developed feeding behavior patterns characterized by a deviated bait approach, which we defined as “fixated feeding,” together with impairment of the mesolimbic dopamine system. Here we examined the temporal organization of feeding behavior using an AI-based analytical framework built on DeepLabCut and SimBA. Mice subjected to social isolation or intermittent high-fat diet (HFD) exposure showed prolonged feeding bouts, a pattern we define as “protracted feeding.” Dopamine administration into the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) shell attenuated diet- and isolation-induced protracted feeding. Physical restraint stress alone did not induce protracted feeding, but mosapride treatment prolonged feeding bouts in restrained mice. Restraint-associated peripheral autonomic and gastrointestinal states may therefore influence the expression of stress-related temporal feeding deviations. In the VTA-DREADD cohort, the same temporal analysis showed that inhibition of VTA dopaminergic activity prolonged feeding bouts. This extends the fixated-feeding circuit framework from the spatial to the temporal domain. These deviations were not consistently accompanied by changes in the amount consumed or in metabolic factors, so alterations in temporal feeding patterns may reflect perturbation of a stress-associated pathway in the mesolimbic dopamine system. Protracted feeding, together with fixated feeding, may serve as a candidate behavioral readout of stress-associated reward-system dysfunction.
SN - 1662-453X
SN - 1662-4548
ER -