The role of hyperinsulinema and the vagus nerve in hypothalamic hyperphagia reexamined.

Three series of experiments investigated the role of hyperinsulinemia and the vagus nerve in the hyperphagia and obesity syndrome produced in female rats by knife cuts in the ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH). The findings of the first series revealed that VMH cuts do not produce hyperinsulinemia when the rats are prevented from overeating, but insulin levels are elevated in rats allowed to overeat. The second series of experiments demonstrated that VMH-cut rats overconsume sweet sugar solutions during daily short-term tests, and that pharmacological blockade of vagal efferent activity with atropine methyl nitrate fails to inhibit this overconsumption. The third study revealed that subdiaphragmatic vagotomy completely blocks VMH hyperphagia and obesity on a chow diet, but does not prevent overeating and rapid weight gain in rats fed an assortment of highly palatable foods. These findings indicate that vagally mediated insulin release is not an essential component to the VMH knife cut syndrome.