Abdominal vagotomy alters the structure of the ingestive behavior of rats ingesting liquid diets

• Published in: Behavioral neuroscience Vol. 108; no. 4; p. 767
• Main Authors: Davis, J.D, Smith, G.P, Kung, T.M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01.08.1994
• Subjects: Afferent Pathways - physiology; Animals; COMPORTEMENT ALIMENTAIRE; DIET; DIETA; Digestive System - innervation; Drinking Behavior - physiology; Efferent Pathways - physiology; Energy Intake - physiology; Feedback - physiology; Feeding Behavior - physiology; FEEDING HABITS; FOOD INTAKE; Gastric Emptying - physiology; Gastrointestinal Transit - physiology; HABITOS ALIMENTARIOS; INGESTION; INGESTION DE ALIMENTOS; licking behavior; LIQUIDE; LIQUIDOS; LIQUIDS; Male; Motor Neurons - physiology; PRISE ALIMENTAIRE (HOMME); RAT; RATA; RATS; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; REGIME ALIMENTAIRE; Taste - physiology; Taste Threshold - physiology; VAGOTOMIA; VAGOTOMIE; VAGOTOMY; Vagus Nerve - physiology
• ISSN: 0735-7044; 1939-0084
• DOI: 10.1037/0735-7044.108.4.767

A microstructural analysis of the licking behavior of the rat was used to investigate the effects of total abdominal vagotomy on ingestive behavior. Vagotomy decreased the meal size of milk and 3 concentrations of sucrose. The decrease was due to an increase in the decline in the rate of licking during the meal, suggesting that negative feedback from the gastrointestinal tract was enhanced by vagotomy, perhaps because of accelerated clearance of fluid from the stomach to the intestine. No evidence was found for motor dysfunction of licking or alterations in gustatory sensitivity to the test solution. The results suggest that vagotomy enhanced the strength of an extravagally mediated negative feedback signal from the intestine and that the vagus nerve normally prevents this from occurring by regulating gastric clearance.