Effect of neuropeptide Y microinjected into the hypothalamus on ethanol consumption.

Guide cannula were implanted in rats aimed at the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) of the hypothalamus for microinjection of neuropeptide Y (NPY), D-NPY27-36, or vehicle. In the Wistar rat, there was no significant effect on the consumption of ethanol. In Myers' high ethanol preferring (mHEP) rats, D-NPY27-36 caused a significant 54% decrease in ethanol consumption from baseline, but the response was not different from vehicle. NPY-induced feeding in satiated Wistar rats, was blocked by a Y1 receptor antagonist, D-NPY27-3). D-NPY27-36 decreased 78% feeding in food-deprived rats. Thus, neither the Wistar nor the mHEP rat perceives ethanol as a source of calories comparable to food.