Vagotomy: effect on electrically elicited eating and self-stimulation in the lateral hypothalamus.

A subdiaphragmatic vagotomy markedly inhibits eating and self-stimulation produced in rats by lateral hypothalamic stimulation. The stomach is known to be affected by hypothalamic stimulation via the vagus, and afferents from the stomach can influence the hypothalamus via the same nerve. Consequently, this result suggests that eating and self-stimulation may be partly controlled by hypothalamic influences on the stomach which, in turn, affects hypothalamic sensitivity.