Obesity and impaired growth of rats force fed 40 days after hypothalamic lesions

Abstract

Ten Sprague-Dawley rats 21-33 days of age received bilateral hypothalamic lesions in the region of the ventromedial nuclei involving the median eminence; 7 sham-operated littermates served as controls. On the evening of the day of operation, a program of forced feeding was begun and continued for 40 consecutive days. Littermates were always given equal amounts of food at each meal. Autopsy on day 41 showed that rats with lesions had become obese and that their linear growth was impaired. These findings support our previous conclusion that in growing rats surgically produced hypothalamic obesity is not only a regulatory obesity but includes also a growth impairment.