Lateral hypothalamus and sympathetic firing rate.

Measurements of sympathetic firing rate have been made after the acute microinjection of glucose or insulin into the lateral hypothalamic area as well as after ablation of this area with locally injected gold thioglucose. Injection of glucose into the lateral hypothalamus (LH) produced a small but significant and dose-dependent reduction in the firing rate of efferent sympathetic nerves to interscapular brown adipose tissue. Injection of insulin into the same region produced a very short-lived increase in efferent sympathetic firing rate. Bilateral lesions in the lateral hypothalamus produced by microinjection and gold thioglucose lowered body weight more than sham injections into the LH of control animals. There was an increase in basal sympathetic firing rate at 3, 9, and 24 h after LH lesions. There was also an increase in firing rate at 1 and 3 days, but by 7 days firing rate had returned to control levels. The data support the hypothesis that LH lesions enhance sympathetic activity but show only very limited modulation by glucose or insulin.