Calmodulin infused intracerebroventricularly enhances food intake in the cat.

In the fasted cat, calmodulin (CaM) infused into the cerebral ventricle produces an increase in the normal intake of food in a dose-dependent manner. The enhancement of feeding by CaM seems to be functionally specific since the response was: (1) abolished by the simultaneous intraventricular infusion of calcineurin, a specific CaM antagonist; (2) not mimicked by another calcium binding protein, troponin C; and (3) independent of the CaM's lack of effect on body temperature and water intake. This finding opens up the dual possibility that this Ca2+ binding protein may affect receptors other than intracellularly and that CaM is involved in specific functions controlled by the brain.