title: The weanling rat ventromedial syndrome: males get just as fat as females.
abstract: Weanling female and male Holtzman rats received bilateral electroytic lesions in the ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus (VMN) at the age of 27 and 26 days, respectively. Sham-operated rats served as controls. The animals were maintained on a synthetic diet (4.2 Cal/g) and tap water ad lib, and body weight, Lee (obesity) Index, tail length and food and water intake were recorded weekly for 6 weeks. The only parameters in which a significant sex difference could be demonstrated were body weight gains and water intake which were greater in the male VMN rats. Female and male VMN rats also utilized food energy for fat deposition, body weight and body length change to the same extent. The data also show that in growing animals, body weight is a poor criterion for the accurate assessment of obesity status and true growth.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, State University of New York at Buffalo Clinical Center, Buffalo 14215, USA.
authors.forename: L L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Bernardis
authors.forename: L L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Bellinger
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000833:Animals, Suckling / Q000254:growth & development*; D001835:Body Weight / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000503:physiopathology*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D014697:Ventromedial Hypothalamic Nucleus / Q000502:physiology*; D014886:Weaning