Behavioral significance of monkey hypothalamic glucose-sensitive neurons.
Feeding-related neuronal activity of lateral hypothalamic glucose-sensitive and glucose-insensitive neurons was investigated in behaving monkeys. The behavioral paradigm was a high fixed ratio of bar pressing for food reward signaled by light and tone cues. Twenty-seven percent of the neurons tested were glucose-sensitive. The population of neurons which changed in firing rate during the feeding task was higher among glucose-sensitive cells than among glucose-insensitive cells. The activity of many glucose-sensitive neurons decreased during the bar pressing and reward periods. A small population of glucose-sensitive neurons responded to cue stimuli. The results suggest that glucose-sensitive neurons are mainly involved in the drive and/or reward mechanism of feeding behavior, and that these cells may have specific roles in neural control of hunger-motivated food acquisition.
D000818:Animals; D003213:Conditioning, Psychological / Q000187:drug effects; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000187:drug effects*; D005260:Female; D005947:Glucose / Q000494:pharmacology*; D007026:Hypothalamic Area, Lateral / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D008251:Macaca; D009474:Neurons / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D012054:Reinforcement, Psychology; D012201:Reward
D005947:Glucose