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Feeding induced in cats by electrical stimulation of the brain stem

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Summary

Stimulation at 14 of 106 loci (Figs. 1 and 2) at which electrodes had been chronically implanted elicited immediate feeding in fully satiated, freely moving cats. Half of the effective points were in the lateral hypothalamus and thus agreed with expectations from extensive prior research on the neural organization of feeding behavior. The other points, however, were in the ventral tegmental area or at the ventrolateral boundary of the central gray. The distribution of all effective points could be explained as following a projection pathway from the globus pallidus. Exploration along 162 recording tracks in acute experiments on these same cats revealed no consistent differences in projection of evoked potentials which could distinguish stimulation at effective versus ineffective loci. Potentials of possible significance, however, were evoked in the paramedial nucleus reticularis of the medulla, the rostral pontine nuclei, the nucleus centralis superior of Bekterev, the lateral frontal cortex and the basal medial forebrain in the vicinity of the diagonal band of Broca.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan

    Wanda Wyrwicka &  Robert W. Doty

  2. Department of Neurophysiology, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Warsaw, Poland

    Wanda Wyrwicka

  3. Center for Brain Research, University of Rochester, 14627, Rochester, New York, USA

    Robert W. Doty

Authors
  1. Wanda Wyrwicka
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  2. Robert W. Doty
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Additional information

Supported by USPHS Grant B 1068. Dr. Wyrwicka held a fellowship from Foundations' Fund for Research in Psychiatry. The authors are indebted to Mr. Joseph Jones and Mrs. Frances Bignall for technical assistance.

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Wyrwicka, W., Doty, R.W. Feeding induced in cats by electrical stimulation of the brain stem. Exp Brain Res 1, 152–160 (1966). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00236868

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