Both the eating disorder anorexia and the club-drug ecstasy appear to involve the same serotonin receptor sites in the brain, according to French researchers.

Reuters reported Oct. 3 that researcher Valerie Compan of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in Montpelier found that the disease and the drug both activate the 5-HT4 receptor sites, part of the brain's reward system and located in the nucleus accumbens.

The 5-HT4 receptors are known to play a role in addictive behavior. Compan and colleagues found that stimulating these receptors caused anorexic-like behavior in mice, while blocking the receptors increased food intake.

"Our data may converge to open the possibility that anorexia can be a reward-relating problem involving neuronal mechanisms," Compan said. "Our studies over seven years now open the possibility that 5-HT4 receptor could represent an important therapeutic target to treat patients suffering from these disorders."

The research was published online Oct. 3 in the Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.