Effect of electrolytic and chemical ventromedial hypothalamic lesions on food intake, body weight, analgesia and the CNS opioid peptides in rats and mice.

The hyperphagia and obesity induced by ventromedial hypothalamic (VMH) electrolytic lesions in female rats were associated with a 70-94% decrease in the level of beta-endorphin (beta-E) in the hypothalamus and other regions of brain, but not in the pituitary. Dynorphin (Dyn) and methionine-enkephalin (ME) levels were also decreased. Rats with VMH lesions were less sensitive to the inhibitory effect of naloxone on their food-intake. Mice injected with gold thioglucose (GTG) also showed a decrease in the hypothalamic content of beta-E and Dyn and exhibited 30% less analgesia compared to control mice after cold swim stress.