Electrical stimulation in the lateral hypothalamus in rats in the activity-based anorexia model.
OBJECTIVE
One quarter of patients with anorexia nervosa have a poor outcome and continue to suffer chronically or die. Electrical brain stimulation may be of therapeutic benefit in some of these patients; however, the brain target for inducing symptom relief is unknown. In this study, the authors evaluated the effects of acute and chronic electrical stimulation in the lateral hypothalamus on food intake, locomotor activity, and survival time in rats in an activity-based anorexia model.


METHODS
In an acute experiment, the authors electrically stimulated at 100 Hz and 0, 25, 50 and 75% of the maximal stimulation amplitude (that is, the amplitude leading to severe side effects) in the lateral hypothalamus on consecutive days during 4 test sessions in 10 rats and evaluated food intake and locomotor activity. In a chronic experiment, they compared food intake, wheel revolutions, and survival time between 6 rats that underwent electrical stimulation in the lateral hypothalamus (50% of maximal stimulation amplitude) and 8 rats that did not undergo stimulation.


RESULTS
In the acute experiment, overall electrical stimulation (25, 50, and 75% combined) and stimulation at 75% of the maximal stimulation amplitude significantly decreased the locomotor activity. However, if the authors omitted results of 1 rat, in which the electrode tip was not located in the lateral hypothalamus on one side but rather in the supraoptic chiasm, the remaining results did not yield significance. No other differences were observed.


CONCLUSIONS
When the findings of the current study are extrapolated to patients with anorexia nervosa, the authors do not expect major effects on symptoms with electrical stimulation at high frequency in the lateral hypothalamus.
Welkenhuysen
Marleen
M
Laboratory of Experimental Functional Neurosurgery, Department of Neuroscience, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Provisorium I, Leuven, Belgium.
Van Kuyck
Kris
K
Das
John
J
Sciot
Raf
R
Nuttin
Bart
B
D000818:Animals; D000856:Anorexia Nervosa / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*; D001069:Appetite Regulation / Q000502:physiology; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004599:Electric Stimulation Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006948:Hyperkinesis / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D007026:Hypothalamic Area, Lateral / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D015996:Survival Rate; D016896:Treatment Outcome