Gastric fat content and satiety

Male rats were fitted with intragastric tubes and pyloric cuffs. Following a 15 hr food deprivation their intake of a 50% oil-water emulsion was observed to be the same whether the pyloric sphincter was occluded or not. Gastric counterinjections of normal saline (50% of the volume voluntarily drunk) did not affect the amount the subjects drank by mouth. However, when 5 ml of the stomach content was siphoned as the rats drank, an accurate compensation for the amount lost occurred. These findings indicate that the rat is capable of metering gastric triglyceride content and that satiety signals, which are not related to stomach volume, are generated by this organ.