Functional correlations between lateral hypothalamic glucose-sensitive neurons and hepatic portal glucose-sensitive units in rat.

The effects of glucose injection into the hepatic portal vein on neural activity of the lateral hypothalamic area (LHA) were studied in rats. A majority of identified glucose-sensitive neurons in the LHA were inhibited by portal injection of glucose. This was found to be mediated through the alpha-noradrenergic pathways. Most of the glucose-insensitive neurons did not respond to the same procedure. Portal injection of hypertonic saline increased neural activity of some glucose-insensitive neurons but no glucose-sensitive neurons responded. Convergence of hepatic vagal afferent glucose-sensitive units on LHA glucose-sensitive neurons was clarified by this study.