VMH lesions facilitate baitshyness in the rat.

Normal rats and rats with lesions of the ventromedial hypothalamus were compared on the acquisition of a single trial, long CS-US interval, conditioning task (baitshyness). The rats with hypothalamic damage exhibited facilitated baitshyness when tested both shortly after surgery and several months after surgery. The magnitude of the suppression observed in these animals could not be related to either specific anatomical structures within the hypothalamus or to the amount of obesity exhibited following the lesions. Similarities and differences between the results of the present study and previous studies are discussed.