Hypothalamus and the Control of Feeding: Fifteen Decades of Direct Association

• Published in: Nutrition (Burbank, Los Angeles County, Calif.) Vol. 14; no. 1; pp. 67 - 70
• Main Author: Plata-Salamán, Carlos R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01.01.1998; Elsevier Limited
• Subjects: Anand; Animal behavior; Animals; Brobeck; Cytokines; Eating - physiology; Feeding; Fibers; Food; Food intake; Forebrain; History of medicine; History, 20th Century; Homeostasis; Hypothalamic Diseases - complications; Hypothalamic Diseases - history; Hypothalamus; Hypothalamus (anterior); Hypothalamus (dorsomedial); Hypothalamus (lateral); Hypothalamus (ventromedial); Hypothalamus - physiology; Lesions; Medial forebrain bundle; Nuclei; Obesity; Obesity - etiology; Obesity - history; Paraventricular nucleus; Preoptic area; Rodents; Satiety; Sensory neurons; Stria terminalis
• ISSN: 0899-9007; 1873-1244
• DOI: 10.1016/S0899-9007(97)00400-0

Anand and Brobeck[1] also stated (page 137) “This particular lateral area of the hypothalamus not only contains … cells … but in addition has in it a large group of fibers from the medial forebrain bundle, from the stria terminalis, and direct amygdalo-hypothalamic fibers, as well as fibers from the ansa lenticularis. Since these same fibers are likely to be destroyed in lesions of the adjacent medial, lateral, rostral, caudal, and dorsal areas, which in our experience did not disturb eating, it is difficult to believe that these particular fibers make up the ‘feeding center.’ In a note, Anand and Brobeck[1] also specify that chronic stimulation of the lateral hypothalamus corresponding to the “feeding center” in unanesthetized cats induced a significant increase in food intake. [...]the detailed data presented and their interpretation and the general integrative view presented by Anand and Brobeck and other investigators provided the basis for various models and hypotheses. Other nuclei/regions were proved to be pivotal in the integrative regulation of hypothalamic mechanisms involved in homeostasis and initiatory-consummatory behaviors (e.g., the preoptic area/anterior hypothalamus; the suprachiasmatic, supraoptic, arcuate, paraventricular, and dorsomedial nuclei; and the posterior hypothalamus), as well as intrahypothalamic connections (e.g., from the lateral and ventromedial hypothalamus to the paraventricular nucleus via the dorsomedial hypothalamus) and afferent and efferent connections. [...]nowadays the view of the lateral hypothalamus as a “feeding center” and the ventromedial hypothalamus as a “satiety center” is oversimplistic.