Otsuka Long-Evans Tokushima fatty (OLETF) rats are a strain of Long-Evans Tokushima Otsuka (LETO) rats that do not express CCK-1 receptors, developing in adulthood, hyperphagia, obesity, and non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM). We examined weight gain and meal patterns during a 30-min independent ingestion test on postnatal days 2-4 and again on days 9 -11 in OLETF and LETO rat pups. OLETF pups were significantly heavier compared with their LETO controls at both ages, and they consumed significantly more of the sweet milk diet. The difference in intake can be attributed to a significant increase in meal size and duration. Number of clusters and bursts of licking within a meal were greater in OLETF rat pups, with no difference between strains in burst and cluster size. Interlick interval (ILI) was not significantly different between OLETF and LETO pups. This measure decreased on days 9 -11 compared with days 2-4 in both strains. Latency to start feeding was significantly shorter on days 2-4 in OLETF vs. LETO pups, but this difference disappeared at the second test at the older age. Two-to four-day-old OLETF pups consumed a larger volume of milk during the first minute of feeding, and their initial lick rate and decay of lick rate were significantly larger compared with their LETO controls. Lack of CCK-1 receptors, or other OLETF-related abnormalities, therefore, resulted in a satiation deficit, leading to increased meal size, hyperphagia, and increased weight gain as early as 2-4 postnatal days. cholecystokinin; obesity; independent ingestion; meal-patterns; Otsuka Long-Evans Tokushima fatty rats; infant rats THE BRAIN-GUT PEPTIDE CHOLECYSTOKININ (CCK) has been demonstrated to reduce food intake in a dose-related manner in different species and experimental designs (3,29,35). Entry of food into the intestine triggers the release of endogenous CCK by the intestinal mucosa, thereby activating CCK-1 receptors located in the periphery to transmit through the vagus nerve a neural signal to the brain, which subsequently terminates feeding and initiates the sequence of behaviors associated with satiety (4, 60).CCK was found to reduce meal size and duration (29, 38) and to induce an earlier appearance of behavioral satiety. The satiety produced by endogenous or exogenous administration of the peptide is mediated via interaction with CCK-1 receptors rather than CCK-2 receptors (5, 44). CCK-1 receptors are abundant in peripheral organs and in a few discrete brain regions (33, 45).Exogenous and endogenous CCK, through receptors of CCK-1, have been shown to reduce feeding in newborn and infant rats independently ingesting their first meal away from the dam (53, 61, 68). Furthermore, CCK-1 receptors appear to mediate a portion of the reduction of intake produced by a preload of corn oil (but not by mineral oil, glucose, 2-deoxy-D-glucose, maltose, or peptone) in infant rats (66 -69). These findings suggest that the CCK system can function selectively at a preweanling age, mediating the emerging feeding-regulatory ...