Repeated subthreshold stimulation of limbic brain areas increases seizure susceptibility in experimental models of epilepsy. In addition, acute dietary indispensable amino acid (IAA) deficiency activates the anterior piriform cortex (APC), a seizure-prone limbic brain area in the rat. Based on these two findings, we hypothesized that activation of the APC by chronic exposure to IAA-deficient diets might increase seizure susceptibility. Several nonessential amino acid neurotransmitters are important in seizures, but deficiencies of nontransmitter IAAs have not been well studied in seizure models. In four trials, we made injections of pentylenetetrazole intraperitoneally or of bicuculline into the APC in histidine-, isoleucine-, or threonine-deficient rats and controls. Increased susceptibility to seizures in the deficient animals was observed as increased severity of the seizures, decreased threshold for the dose of the chemostimulant and time to seizure, or a combination thereof. Pair-fed controls showed that this effect was not due to an energy deficit. This novel but robust finding suggests that IAA deficiency may increase vulnerability to seizures by repeated activation of the APC.
Both total subdiaphragmatic vagotomy (TVAGX) and serotonin(3) receptor blockade with tropisetron or ondansetron attenuate amino acid-imbalanced diet (Imb) anorexia. Total vagotomy is less effective than tropisetron in reducing Imb-induced anorexia and also blunts the tropisetron effect. With the use of electrocautery at the subdiaphragmatic level of the vagus, we severed the ventral and dorsal trunks as well as the hepatic, ventral gastric, dorsal gastric, celiac, and accessory celiac branches separately or in combination to determine which vagal branches or associated structures may be involved in these responses. Rats were prefed a low-protein diet. On the first experimental day, tropisetron or saline was given intraperitoneally 1 h before presentation of Imb. Cuts including the ventral branch, i.e., TVAGX, ventral vagotomy (above the hepatic branch), and hepatic + gastric vagotomies (but not hepatic branch cuts alone) caused the highest (P < 0.05) Imb intake on day 1 with or without tropisetron. The responses to tropisetron were not affected significantly. On days 2-8, groups having vagotomies that included the hepatic branch recovered faster than sham-treated animals. Because the hepatic and gastric branches together account for most of the vagal innervation to the proximal duodenum, this area may be important in the initial responses, whereas structures served by the hepatic branch alone apparently act in the later adaptation to Imb.
We investigated the roles of the vagus nerve and the serotonin3 (5-HT3) receptor in mediating the food intake depression associated with amino acid deficiency. The food intake of sham-operated (sham) rats given an isoleucine-imbalanced (IMB) diet was reduced to < 40% of control basal (BAS) diet intake (P = 0.0009), and pretreatment with the 5-HT3 antagonist tropisetron (Trop) increased IMB intake by twofold over the vehicle (VEH)-treated group (P < or = 0.0001), as we have reported before. However, after subdiaphragmatic vagotomy (VAGX), IMB intake was increased to a level intermediate between the sham-VEH and sham-Trop groups, while administration of Trop did not increase IMB intake over VAGX alone. By the end of day 1, the VAGX-Trop group had eaten only 1 g more of IMB than the VAGX-VEH group (NS). We conclude that 1) the vagus is among the physiological systems involved in the anorectic responses to IMB and 2) intact vagal function is necessary for the full effect of 5-HT3 antagonists in alleviating the anorectic responses to IMB.
Rats offered an amino acid-imbalanced diet (IMB) respond to the ensuing amino acid deficiency rapidly with a decrease in food intake of at least 50%. Pretreatment with tropisetron (TROP), an antagonist at serotonin3 (5-HT3) and 5-HT4 receptors, increases intake of IMB to approximately 85% of control. Vagotomy has two effects: it increases intake of an IMB to about 65%, and also blocks the increased response to tropisetron. This indicates that the greater IMB intake after tropisetron, approximately 20% more than in vagotomized rats, is dependent on an intact vagus. Rats were either 1) vagotomized or sham-operated, or 2) given tropisetron or saline injections. We then examined free-feeding meal patterns in rats fed an IMB to determine whether the microstructure of the feeding behavior differed, either between treatments, or by comparison with the meal patterns in rats fed the control diet. Vagotomy did not alter meal patterns in rats consuming the basal control diet. During the first 6 h after introduction of the IMB, the control rats showed significantly longer intermeal intervals (over twice the length of intervals recorded in those fed the basal diet), with corresponding effects on meal numbers, which were restored to basal values in tropisetron and vagotomized rats. Meal size was increased after vagotomy also. After 6 h, in intact tropisetron-treated rats only, a fourfold faster rate of eating throughout the late dark period accounted for the significantly greater intake of the IMB than in controls. The results demonstrated differential effects of the two treatments on the anorectic responses to amino acid deficiency.
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