Elsevier

Physiology & Behavior

Volume 49, Issue 1, January 1991, Pages 169-176
Physiology & Behavior

Article
Mechanisms of vasopressin's anorectic effect

https://doi.org/10.1016/0031-9384(91)90251-IGet rights and content

Abstract

The present experiments investigated the effect of vasopressin (VP) on food intake in rats under various conditions. VP (1.25–10 μg/kg body weight = b.wt.) injected intraperitoneally (IP) at the onset of the dark phase of the lighting cycle inhibited feeding in a dose-dependent manner. The suppression of feeding induced by VP was primarily due to a delayed onset of the first meal after injection and was reversed by a V1-receptor antagonist (7 μg/kg b.wt., IP), by the Ca++-channel blocker verapamil (5 mg/kg b.wt., IP) and by the α-adrenergic receptor antagonist phentolamine (500 μg/kg b.wt.), but not by dissection of the hepatic branch of the vagus. In further experiments VP inhibited gastric emptying. This effect was not reversed by phentolamine. VP had also an aversive effect, but this effect was weaker than that of LiCl and probably not involved in VP-induced hypophagia. The results suggest that VP reduces feeding through a V1-receptor-mediated activation of an α-adrenergic mechanism. The inhibition of gastric emptying or a possible stimulation of hepatic oxidative metabolism by VP seems to be not essential for VP's effect on feeding. The results are consistent with a role of VP in stress-induced anorexia in rats.

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  • Cited by (0)

    This article was presented at the Xth International Congress on the Physiology of Food and Fluid Intake held in Paris, France, July 4–8, 1989. Other selected articles from this meeting have been published in Physiology & Behavior, Volume 48, Number 6, 1990 and Brain Research Behavior, Volume 25, Number 6, 1990 and Volume 26, Number 1, 1991.

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