Iontophoretic injections of kainic acid into the rat lateral hypothalamus: effects on ingestive behavior.

Iontophoretic injections of kainic acid into the dorsolateral hypothalamus of rats resulted in localized, partial depletions of neurons from the area without significant damage to adjacent areas of the diencephalon, including the zona incerta, dorsomedial hypothalamus and anterior as well as posterior regions of the hypothalamus that have been reported to be severely affected by mechanical injections of KA into the LH. Distant KA-sensitive structures such as the hippocampus and temporal lobe also showed no discernible neuronal loss or glial proliferation. The neuronal loss within the LH was far less severe after iontophoretic injections than after mechanical injections of KA. Our KA treated animals nonetheless displayed transient aphagia and adipsia, followed by variable periods of hypophagia and hypodipsia. After recovery of essentially normal ad lib feeding, the KA-treated rats failed to eat in response to a glucoprivic challenge (2-deoxy-D-glucose) but consumed normal quantities of water during periods of food deprivation. Their drinking response to hypertonic saline was somewhat reduced during the first hour after the treatment but normal at 6 as well as 24 hours. Unilateral KA injections produced only transient changes in ad lib food intake.