Fourth J. A. F. Stevenson Memorial Lecture: The physiology of thirst

Abstract

The neuropsychological basis of thirst is reviewed with particular emphasis given to recent developments. The natural history of thirst, the segregation of eating and drinking behavior, changes in body water content that signal the need for water, the effects of cerebral (lateral preoptic area) lesions, the control of antidiuretic hormone release, the double depletion hypothesis and the motivational characteristics of cellular and extracellular thirsts, and the new synthesis involving the renin-angiotensin hormone system and subfornical organ, are discussed based on experiments using the rat as a generalized mammal.