Authors: Laviano, A.¹; Meguid, M.M.²; Gleason, J.R.³; Rossi-Fanelli, F.¹

Source: Nutritional Neuroscience, Volume 5, Number 6, January 2002 , pp. 443-456(14)

Publisher: Maney Publishing

Abstract:

Food intake is mainly controlled in the hypothalamus via a series of functionally related nuclei, including the ventromedial nucleus of hypothalamus (VMN) and the lateral hypothalamic area (LHA). Since food intake is the product of meal number and meal size, we investigated the role of the VMN and LHA in influencing these feeding indices and in mediating cancer anorexia in tumor-bearing (TB) rats, via temporarily inhibiting VMN or LHA. Adult male Fischer-344 rats (n=23) inoculated with 10⁶ MCA sarcoma cells were studied. When anorexia developed, rats were randomly assigned to stereotaxically located bilateral intra-VMN or intra-LHA microinjections of the neuronal blocker colchicine (CX; n=6 each group) or saline (n=6 and n=5, respectively). Non TB rats (NTB; n=7) served as controls. Food intake and feeding indices were recorded by a computerized device. At onset of anorexia, a reduction of meal number occurred, leading to reduced food intake. After inhibition of VMN activity by CX, meal number significantly increased, so that food intake increased and almost normalized. In contrast, intra-LHA microinjection of either CX or saline resulted in reduction of meal size, leading to reduced food intake and death. Findings suggest that VMN and LHA influence meal number and meal size, respectively. Since cancer anorexia mainly results from an initial reduction of meal number and the inhibition of VMN led to an increase in meal number, the early effect of tumor growth on VMN activity may be an early step leading to reduced food intake.

Keywords: Anorexia; Light/dark feeding cycle; Male rats; Cancer

Document Type: Research Article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1028415021000039202

Affiliations: 1: Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Rome "La Sapienza", viale dell'Università 37, 00185 Rome, Italy 2: Department of Surgery, Neuroscience Program, Surgical Metabolism and Nutrition Laboratory, SUNY Upstate Medical University, 750 East Adams Street, Syracuse, NY 13210, USA 3: Statistics Program, College of Arts and Sciences, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY 13210, USA

Publication date: 2002-01-01

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