Partial lipectomy, but not PVN lesions, increases food hoarding by Siberian hamsters.

We tested the inverse relationship between body fat and food hoarding in Siberian hamsters by decreasing or increasing body fat through partial surgical lipectomy (LIPX) or by making obesity-inducing lesions of the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVNx), respectively. We asked three questions. 1) Is food hoarding increased after body fat loss due to LIPX? 2) Is food hoarding decreased after PVNx? 3) Does PVNx affect the hoarding response to LIPX? Hamsters housed in a simulated burrow system increased food hoarding after LIPX followed by a decrease to pre-LIPX levels as body fat was partially compensated through an increase in the mass of their unoperated fat pads. PVNx hamsters had increased body mass and food intake but did not have decreased food hoarding, nor was food hoarding increased by LIPX in PVNx hamsters. The partial body fat compensation by LIPX + PVNx hamsters suggests that the damaged PVN did not cause a general failure to sense energy deficits but did affect the ability to integrate internal and external energy stores.