RESEARCH ARTICLE Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass Alters Brain Activity in Regions that Underlie Reward and Taste Perception

Background Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) surgery is a very effective bariatric procedure to achieve significant and sustained weight loss, yet little is known about the procedure’s impact on the brain. This study examined the effects of RYGB on the brain’s response to the anticipation of highly palatable versus regular food. Methods High fat diet-induced obese rats underwent RYGB or sham operation and were then tested for conditioned place preference (CPP) for the bacon-paired chamber, relative to the chow-paired chamber. After CPP, animals were placed in either chamber without the food stimu-lus, and brain-glucose metabolism (BGluM) was measured using positron emission tomog-raphy (μPET). Results Bacon CPP was only observed in RYGB rats that had stable weight loss following surgery. BGluM assessment revealed that RYGB selectively activated regions of the right and mid