A role for vagus nerve in regulation of protein and carbohydrate intake.
The effects of vagotomy on long-term protein and carbohydrate selection or on short-term food selection following cholecystokinin octapeptide (CCK-8) injections, protein, or carbohydrate premeals and on brain 5-hydroxytryptamine (5HT) and catecholamine metabolism were examined in adult rats. Vagotomy was followed by a reduction in daily protein intake that by 3 wk had fallen to 50% of preoperative levels. A corresponding increase in carbohydrate intake occurred so that total food intake was maintained at approximately 93% of that consumed by the sham-operated controls. These changes in day-to-day macronutrient selection from a choice of high- and low-protein diets were associated with a vagotomy-induced decreased turnover of 5HT in the hypothalamus. In meal consumption studies vagotomy prevented a further reduction in meal size by CCK-8 but did not block decreased consumption of total food or of protein preference of the rats in meals taken subsequent to a protein meal. It was concluded that the vagus nerve plays a role in regulating long-term protein and carbohydrate preferences but not in the relationships among meal-to-meal composition and intake.
D000818:Animals; D001679:Biogenic Amines / Q000378:metabolism; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism; D004040:Dietary Carbohydrates; D004044:Dietary Proteins; D004435:Eating / Q000187:drug effects; D005518:Food Preferences; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D012844:Sincalide / Q000494:pharmacology; D014628:Vagotomy; D014630:Vagus Nerve / Q000502:physiology*
D001679:Biogenic Amines; D004040:Dietary Carbohydrates; D004044:Dietary Proteins; D012844:Sincalide