Serotonin mediated effects on food intake, feeding body weight and subjective variables

The motivation for the main body of work presented in this thesis arose from three sources. Initially, the need to develop and test a reliable, portable and unobtrusive method of observing human feeding behaviour in a clinical setting. Secondly, curiosity concerning the serotonergic modulation of feeding. In practice, to examine the effects of the 5-HT reuptake inhibitor and anti-depressant fluoxetine on food intake and choice, body weight and subjective states in both non-depressed normal-weight and obese subjects. The third and final impetus arose from the observation that, in rats, the expression of meal-induced satiety offered a background against which to examine the possible mechanisms underlying the effects of acute and chronic administration of serotonergic agents on consummatory and behavioural functioning