LOSS OF APPETITE FOR ALCOHOL AND ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES PRODUCED IN RATS BY TREATMENT WITH THYROID PREPARATIONS

Abstract

SELF-SELECTION experiments have shown that homeostasis of an organism is maintained not only by the physiological regulators as described by Claude Bernard (1) and Walter Cannon (2), but also by behavioral regulators that are manifested in the activities of the total organism (3). In the normal organism both forms of regulation operate toward the maintenance of homeostasis and when one form of regulation ceases to function the other takes over. For example, after the physiological regulator for sodium metabolism has been eliminated by removal of the adrenal glands and life is threatened by the excessive loss of sodium in the urine, the animal eats or drinks more salt, enough to compensate for the loss. Many other instances of this kind could be cited. In the common laboratory rat appetite has proved to be such a reliable guide to dietary needs that it can be used as a tool for the study of the nutritive value of food-stuffs and of the factors involved in their utilization as well as an indicator of the specific mechanisms involved in the functioning of the various endocrine glands.