Prolonging lateral hypothalamic anorexia by tube-feeding

Male rats sustaining lateral hypothalamic (LH) lesions were anorexic for approximately one week following surgery. They then maintained their body weight at a reduced level (approximately 20% below controls) for the remainder of an 8-week postlesion period of observation. By tube-feeding another group of LH animals, their body weight was held at a control level for the first week postlesion. Following tube-feeding, these animals were anorexic for several weeks while their body weights declined to the same reduced level as that of the LH animals not tube-fed. For both groups of LH animals, achievement of a lowered weight level, rather than a time-dependent recovery process, appeared to underlie the return of food intake to levels sufficient for maintaining body weight. By impeding the loss of body weight, tube-feeding can thus prolong the duration of LH anorexia.