Suggestive Evidence of a Primary "Drinking Center" in Hypothalamus of the Rat

Abstract

Violent drinking activity could be stimulated by passing a 60-cycle, 2-msec. direct current pulse across 2 bipolar bilateral electrodes in the lateral hypothalamus at the level of the lower dorsomedian nucleus. Activation was accomplished by a subcutaneously buried RF pickup unit. During the period of maximal response, the rat drank in excess of 400 ml tapwater daily while chronically stimulated. By the 5th day the animal had lost its responsiveness to stimulation. The drinking behavior was not secondary to diuresis but was an immediate and direct response to hypothalamic stimulation.