Adipsia and Aphagia in Rats After Lateral Subthalamic Lesions

Abstract

Localization of lesions in the lateral subthalamic area of rats which produce a high success rate of aphagia is described. Complete adipsia accompanied this aphagia in all cases. The aphagia and the adipsia are separate responses to the lesion. The pattern of material exchange cannot be reproduced by deprivation of sham-operated rats of either food or water. Rats fully sham operated in this area show hypophagia and hypodipsia for 1 or 2 days after operation. Daily intubation of water into operated animals appears to facilitate the escape of animals from the inhibition of eating and drinking. Escaped animals showed a pronounced polydipsia after escape, but this was of a variable degree of permanence and did not always appear consistent in other respects with diabetes insipidus.