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GABA and glutamate: Possible metabolic intermediaries involved in the hypothalamic regulation of food intake

1980; Elsevier BV; Volume: 5; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/0361-9230(80)90042-8

1873-2747

Rick B. Meeker, R.D. Myers,

Biochemical Analysis and Sensing Techniques

Pharmacologically-induced increases and decreases in GABA activity in the ventromedial hypothalamus cause reciprocal changes in food intake in the rat. Conditions which augment GABA reduce ad lib feeding whereas a decrease in GABA activity is associated with an increase in food intake. These changes are most prominent within a discrete region of the hypothalamus which has low basal metabolic activity but a relatively high yield of 14C-GABA from a (U-14C) glucose precursor. Both GABA and glutamate are released into push-pull perfusates collected from this circumscribed region as the rat consumes food. Thus far, the release of GABA appears to be triggered by nutrients arriving at the gut and does not specifically parallel the entry of intraduodenally infused glucose into the brain. Sites which release GABA appear to be neuroanatomically distinct from sites which release norepinephrine during feeding. The data support the existence of an independent and metabolically distinct GABA-nergic system within the basal hypothalamus which exerts inhibitory control over feeding behavior.