Liquid sucrose and fructose intake in male and female liver denervated rats.

Male and female rats were liver denervated [hepatic vagal branch transection (VAG-B), hepatic artery-portal vein denervations (H-ART) or total liver denervation (TOTAL)] and sham operated (SHAM). Rats were given chow along with exposure to sucrose and fructose solutions. Chow intakes and body weight gains of all experimental groups were similar to their SHAMS, but the male H-ART group weighed more than the male VAG-B group. Denervated male and female rats consumed amounts of 30% sucrose solution similar to their SHAMS; however, the female H-ART group took more than the female TOTAL rats. Female VAG-B and male H-ART groups drank more of a 30% fructose solution than their other groups. Mean 15% fructose intakes, for both sexes, of denervated rats were similar to their SHAMS. The data are not supportive for a role of liver satiety afferents in fructose and sucrose intake but do raise the possibility that autonomic nervous system balance to the liver could influence the rats' ingestion of these sugars. If true, the mechanism(s) must be generally subtle and somewhat sex variable.