Ingestive patterns of liver-denervated rats presented with several diets.

The liver by way of afferent nerves is suggested to be a controller of food intake. In experiment 1, male rats were given a 15% fructose solution during the first 4 h of the dark phase, while chow was available the rest of the time, for 10 days, before total liver denervation (TLD) or sham operation. Postsurgery ingestion patterns (15-min measurements for 4 h) of fructose were similar in the two groups. However, chow intake in the TLD group was slightly attenuated the first 2 days after surgery. In experiment 2, rats were given chow in cups and vegetable oil in bottles for 8 days before TLD or sham operation. After surgery, hourly ingestion of chow and oil did not differ between the groups; however, there was a trend for the TLD group to take more oil in the dark phase on the first-day diet exposure. In experiment 3, rats were fed a high-protein diet for 21 days before TLD or sham operation. With the use of a computer-operated system, postsurgery meal size, meal duration, and frequency patterns were found to be comparable between the groups. In experiment 4, rats were given a diet of sweetened condensed milk mixed with water (3:1 vol/vol) and vitamins for 14 days before hepatic vagal branch transection (HVBX) or sham operation. After surgery the first-day milk intake of both groups was similar up to 3.5 h and then depressed at 4 and 24 h in the HVBX rats, but was again comparable over the next 13 days; body weights were similar throughout the study.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)