Mathematical analysis of energy regulatory patterns of normal and diabetic rats.

Abstract

Analysis of feeding patterns indicated that diabetic (alloxan) hyperphagia is characterized by doubling of meal sizes with no change in feeding frequency. Correlation of meal sizes and intermeal intervals did not provide any systematic relationships for either normal or diabetic rats. When equations of the general form Y = A + Bcos(X) were fit to successive satiety ratios (postmeal interval/meal size), the diabetic rats showed significantly lower A coefficients, reflecting a lower average level of satiety, as well as significantly lower B coefficients, reflecting less systematic variability in the satiating value of food around the average level. The major regulatory deficit in diabetic animals was apparently a chronic reduction in the long-term signal of body nutrient repletion.