AJP - Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, Vol 238, Issue 5 447-R453, Copyright © 1980 by American Physiological Society
Vagal mediation of hypothalamic obesity but not of supermarket dietary obesity
R. M. Gold, P. E. Sawchenko, C. DeLuca, J. Alexander and R. Eng
In two independent experiments, complete subdiaphragmatic vagotomy did not
prevent the development of the obesity that results from the addition of
highly palatable foods to the diet of rats. The vagotomized animals
exhibited only a 1-day delay in the onset of overeating, and this only when
first exposed to the tasty diet. In independent tests of the functional
completeness of the vagotomies, the vagotomized animals failed to overeat
or gain excessive weight on a standard laboratory diet following
bilaterally parasagittal hypothalamic knife cuts. Thus, hypothalamic
knife-cut obesity requires the integrity of the vagus for its full
expression, whereas dietary obesity does not.
