Hepatic branch vagotomy enhances feeding in response to centrally elicited glucose deprivation in rats

Abstract

Intracerebroventricular (I.C.V.) administration of 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG) produces glucose deprivation-induced ('glucoprivic') feeding and sympathoadrenal activation. To find out whether peripheral mechanisms modulate centrally elicited glucoprivic feeding the effect of hepatic branch vagotomy (HBV) compared with sham vagotomy (SV) on the feeding response to I.C.V.-injected 2-DG (1.2 or 2.4 mg per rat) was tested in rats fed a fat-enriched diet (18% fat). 2-DG was injected into the lateral ventricle 1 h after after dark onset, at light onset or 6 h after light onset of the 12 h light-12 h dark cycle. Apart from one (1.2 mg 2-DG injected 1 h after dark onset) out of six experiments, HBV enhanced glucoprivic feeding. This finding is consistent with the assumption that centrally elicited glucoprivic feeding is antagonized by peripheral stimuli signalled to the brain through the hepatic vagus branch.