Basic discovery brings hope to those facing eating disorders

Published on: 2025-01-15

In an article published in the McGill Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences e-News, Dr. Salah El Mestikawy, and other researchers at the University of Western Ontario, have made a major discovery in the treatment of eating disorders, supported by a grant from the Brain Canada Foundation. Their study of the role of the striatum in compulsive behaviours offers new therapeutic avenues. By increasing acetylcholine levels, the drug donepezil has shown promising results, suppressing compulsive eating behaviors in mice, and could transform the treatment of these disorders as well as addictions.

 

Disorders involving compulsion affect a lot of people,” he explains. “Importantly addiction as well is fundamentally a compulsive disorder – repetition of drug intake despite very severe consequences as witnessed by the fentanyl crisis. My hope is that compassionate trials and then clinical trials with cohorts of patients suffering from addiction will start in 2025.
– Dr. Salah El Mestikawy

 

 

Basic discovery brings hope to those facing eating disorders

Media: Website

Source: McGill Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences e-News