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gamma-Aminobutyric acidergic (GABA) mechanisms in the ventral hypothalamus may be involved in counterregulatory responses to glucoprivic episodes. Microdialysis probes (1 mm) were placed into the ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH) or lateral hypothalamus (LHA) of male Sprague-Dawley rats 3.5 h before 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG) administration (200 mg/kg i.v.). Probes were perfused (2 ml/min) with Ringer solution, and samples were collected every 10 min from 30 min before to 60 min after 2-DG. By 30 min after 2-DG, GABA concentration in VMH dialysate increased in a bimodal fashion to 204 +/- 36% (P < 0.01) of baseline, and GABA concentration in LHA dialysate decreased to 77 +/- 4% (P < 0.01) of baseline. The changes in dialysate GABA concentrations occurred concurrently with the animals eating and returned to baseline by 60 min. When animals were denied access to food after 2-DG, the decrease in LHA GABA was not apparent and VMH GABA remained approximately 15% above baseline at the end of the sample period. The results of the present study provide evidence that GABAergic systems in the ventral hypothalamus are responsive to alterations in glucose status.

OBJECTIVE: To study the role of dopamine in the ventromedial hypothalamus (VMN) in the regulation of meal size and meal number during obesity. METHODS: Embryonic mesencephalic cells rich in dopaminergic neurons from lean rats were grafted into the VMN of obese Zucker rats. Since food intake is the product of meal size and number, these variables were measured using a rat`eater meter'. Dopamine and serotonin concentrations in the VMN were assayed in grafted and control rats via in vivo microdialysis and HPLC two months after transplantation. RESULTS: Food intake increased in grafted rats due to an increase of both meal size and meal number 2 weeks after implantation and to an increase of meal size with insuf®cient compensatory decrease of meal number 2 months after transplantation. Grafted rats showed higher absolute dopamine and lower serotonin concentrations in the VMN. CONCLUSION: It would appear that an increase of dopamine and a decrease of serotonin in the VMN of grafted obese rats may correlate with increase in meal number and meal size, respectively. Since obese Zucker rats usually display an enlarged meal size, we deduce from the data that chronically elevated VMN dopamine and low serotonin are involved in producing the large meal size observed during obesity.

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