Effects of intracerebroventricular injection of muscimol or GABA on operant feeding in pigs

Abstract

Young pigs were prepared with lateral intracerebroventricular (ICV) cannulae. They were housed individually in cages fitted with operant panels and could obtain food and water ad lib. The GABA-A receptor agonist muscimol (25-200 nmol) ICV produced an increase in food intake in which the dose-response relation was most obvious 30-60 min after dosing. The 25-nmol dose had no effect on feeding. However, muscimol (50 nmol) caused a significant increase in feeding (p less than 0.01) during the first 30 min after injection, while the 100- and 200-nmol doses increased food intake (p less than 0.01) during the first 60 min. The effect of muscimol (100 nmol) on food intake was completely abolished by the simultaneous administration of the GABA-A receptor antagonist bicuculline (100 nmol). GABA (40-1600 nmol) ICV also produced a dose-related increase in food intake (p less than 0.01) in the 15 min after injection. Only doses of 800 nmol and above were effective. The effects of GABA (1600 nmol) were completely abolished by the simultaneous administration of bicuculline (50 nmol). Neither muscimol nor GABA influenced food intake for the 24-hr time period or water intake during any time period. The results indicate that stimulation of central GABA-A receptors induces operant feeding in the satiated pig.