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Mesencephalic lesions resulting in normophagia, reduced weight and altered metabolism
Author(s) -
Bellinger L. L.,
Bernardis L. L.,
Goldman J. K.
Publication year - 1976
Publication title -
journal of neuroscience research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.72
H-Index - 160
eISSN - 1097-4547
pISSN - 0360-4012
DOI - 10.1002/jnr.490020305
Subject(s) - metabolism , neuroscience , physiology , medicine , endocrinology , chemistry , biology
The effects of bilateral lesions of the ventral noradrenergic bundle (VNA) were studied in male rats. In contrast to data reported by others, hyperphagia and obesity were not observed following VNA lesions. Indeed, except for a depression during the first three postoperative days, food intake (FI) of the VNA lesioned animals (VNAL) was normal. Interestingly, the body weight (BW) of the VNAL was significantly reduced compared to the controls, and a pair feeding study indicated that this depression of BW was not due to their FI. Computation of FI per metabolic size showed that the VNAL actually had a significantly increased FI compared to the controls. After a two day fast the VNAL lost more metabolic size than controls and upon refeeding they defended their pre‐fast BW. The VNAL rats showed normal body composition and circulating glucose, insulin and prolactin. They had reduced free fatty acids, triglycerides, growth hormone and body length. The data suggest that the mesencephalon influences BW set point, some metabolites and possibly overall metabolism.