Consummatory behavior as a function of ambient temperature in septal-lesioned and control rats.

Septal lesions or control operations were produced in male and female rats. Measurements of water and food consumption were carried out while the rats were housed under warm vivarium temperatures (24 degrees C) and when maintained in a cold room (6 degrees C). Examination of the data from the entire week spent in the cold revealed that rats with septal lesions deviated from precold water-comsumption levels less than comparable control rats. Further, whereas rats with septal lesions suppressed intake for the first 24 hr following either shift in environmental temperatures, control animals inhibited drinking only when returned to the warm environment. Both surgical groups elevated food consumption in the cold. The relative amount of food and water consumed during the day (vs night) increased for all groups when maintained in the cold. Differences in degree of reactivity to the manipulations were observed in male and female rats. These findings were interpreted as adding further support to our contention that septal lesions alter the behavioral (rather than direct metabolic) adaptations an animal makes to its environment.