The relationship between catecholamine levels in the hypothalamus and amygdala under influence of glucose overloading in hungry and sated rats.

The effect of intragastric glucose infusion (1.5 g per rat) to sated rats on the catecholamine content in the medial basal and lateral hypothalamic regions and in the nuclei of the amygdaloid body was investigated. The effect of glucose overloading on the noradrenaline (NA) and dopamine (DA) content in the ventromedial (VMH) and arcuate hypothalamic nuclei was also studied in rats deprived of food for 48 hr. Glucose administration to rats fed ad lib. resulted in an increase in NA in the VMH and a decrease in DA in the central nucleus of the amygdaloid body. In fasted animals glucose overloading partially reversed the changes of NA concentration in the arcuate nucleus produced by starvation, whereas in the VMH glucose was not effective in producing any changes of catecholamine content. Possible interrelations between the amygdala and hypothalamus in respect to the role of catecholamines in the regulation of food intake are discussed.