The developmental and neural determinants of the effects of estrogen on feeding behavior in the rat: a theoretical perspective.

Conceptually, the neural regulation of feeding behavior is proposed to be a function of the activities of a long-term (day to day) and a short-term (meal to meal) control system. Although these two control systems are presumably involved in a continuous and dynamic interaction, they can be behaviorally and anatomically separated by specific regulatory challenges and brain lesions. Utilizing this general regulatory model for the hypothalamic control of feeding behavior, the effects of estrogen on a variety of behavioral indices of energy regulation are reviewed and discussed. The effects of ovarian hormones on the feeding behavior of both prepubertal and adult female rats when faced with a series of regulatory tests shown to provide specific information about the long- and short-term control of feeding behavior leads to the following conclusions. Modulation of feeding behavior by ovarian hormones is detectable well before the time of puberty in the female rat and is expressed in terms of a 4-day periodicity that is very similar to adult animals. Estrogen appears to modulate feeding behavior primarily by modifying the long-term control of feeding behavior or else the manner in which nutrients are integrated into this long-term system. It is further proposed that estrogen acts upon metabolically specific and unique neural elements in the hypothalamus whose function is to translate error signals derived from the long-term integration of body nutrients into appropriate readjustments in feeding behavior. Although this dual-regulatory model for the hypothalamic control of feeding behavior can account for the majority of the effects of estrogen on feeding behavior, further studies suggest that an "extrahypothalamic" mechanism must mediate certain aspects of the neural control of feeding behavior as well as the behavioral effects of estrogen. Specifically, the present model system can account for the role of carbohydrates in the neural control of feeding behavior, but fats and possibly proteins can modify feeding behavior independent of the hypothalamus. Likewise, estrogen can influence the efficiency with which nutrient loads of fats and proteins can modify subsequent feeding behavior and therefore this proposed "extrahypothalamic" mechanism may mediate those effects of estrogen on feeding behavior that cannot be accounted for by the present dual-regulatory model.