Appetite suppressant activity in plasma of rats after intestinal bypass surgery.

Male Sprague-Dawley rats with a jejunoileal bypass ate 32% less in the 1st h of refeeding after an overnight fast than did sham-bypass rats. Fasted recipients injected intraperitoneally with 6-7 ml of bypass plasma also ate 32% less (P less than 0.001) during the 1st h of refeeding than did recipients of sham-bypass plasma, but subsequent intake was not significantly different. Rectal temperature, hematocrit, white blood cell count, and percent polymorphonuclear leukocytes were not different between bypass and sham-bypass rats. A test for aversive conditioning suggested that the effect of bypass plasma was not due to illness or discomfort. These data suggest that intestinal bypass produces a transferable humoral factor that suppresses food intake and that the effect is not due to illness or discomfort. If the decreased food intake in humans after intestinal bypass is due to a similar mechanism, the possibility exists that this humoral appetite-suppressant factor may be clinically useful in the treatment of morbid obesity.