Dissociation of hunger and self-stimulation by trigeminal deafferentation in the rat.
Section of trigeminal orosensory or oromotor nerves reduces food intake and disrupts performance of a food-reinforced lever pressing response but increases the rate of an identical level pressing response reinforced by electrical stimulation of the lateral hypothalamus. Our findings suggest that trigeminal orosensation plays a critical role in the neural control of hunger in the rat. The results also fail to support a response-oriented theory of intracranial self-stimulation where the latter is thought to involve selective facilitation of sensorimotor circuits underlying species-typical consummatory behavior.
D000344:Afferent Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D003216:Conditioning, Operant / Q000502:physiology; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D006815:Hunger / Q000502:physiology*; D007031:Hypothalamus / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D009046:Motor Neurons / Q000502:physiology; D009055:Mouth / Q000294:innervation; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D012054:Reinforcement, Psychology; D012653:Self Stimulation / Q000502:physiology*; D013045:Species Specificity; D014276:Trigeminal Nerve / Q000502:physiology*