Linked spike activity of neurons in the right and left lateral hypothalamus in conditions of food motivation.

Cross- and autocorrelation histograms were constructed to investigate the linkage of spike activity from neurons in the right and left lateral hypothalamus, recorded in conditions of restful waking, after 24-h food deprivation, and after satiation. In conditions of hunger, there was a preferred order in which neurons fired in these two hypothalamic regions: a significant majority of cases (59%) showed initial firing by a neuron in the left hypothalamus followed by a neuron in the right, with delays of up to 200 msec and peaks in the delay plot at 30 and 160 msec. The opposite firing order was seen less frequently (21% of cases). In conditions of hunger, linked spike activity showed an increase in the probability of detecting frequencies in the theta range (from 11% to 29%).