[Syndrome following injury of the ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus (VMH syndrome) and its relation to increased secretion of gastric acid (hyperchlorhydria)--an experimental study with rats].

In rats a stereotactic electrocoagulation of the Nucleus ventromedialis hypothalami (NVM) leads to a VMH syndrome (ventromedial hypothalamic syndrome) with hyperphagia, adiposity, and hyperinsulinaemia. A less known fact in this connection is the increased secretion of gastric acid (hyperchlorohydria). We could prove that the basal gastric secretion increases after NVM lesions by two times (from 18 mumol H+/hr to 37 mumol H+/hr) and that this hyperchlorohydria can be removed by a vagotomy. From this fact one can derive conclusions concerning the acute gastric mucous secretion after brain lesions with regard to their pathogenesis and therapy.