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Biomedical subjects

W G Hall

Publications and source records attributed to W G Hall.

67 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMed1979

Inhibition of suckling in weaning-age rats: a possible serotonergic mechanism.

The nature, development, and specificity of serotonergic involvement in the control of suckling behavior in rat pups from 10 to 35 days of age were studied. During development, suckling normally declines after 10 days and is abandoned after 30 days. It was found that (a) methysergide, a serotonin (5-HT) receptor blocker, reinstated suckling behavior in pups 15 days of age and older but had no effect on the suckling of 10-day old pups, (b) quipazine, a 5-HT receptor agonist, inhibited suckling of pups 10 days of age and older, (c) methysergide pretreatment blocked the quipazine inhibition of suckling, and (d) metergoline, another 5-HT blocker, also stimulated suckling, and fenfluramine, a 5-HT releaser, blocked suckling in deprived pups. Together, these data support the hypothesis that a serotonergic inhibitory mechanism modulates the suckling of weaning-age rats. These pharmacological manipulations of 5-HT appear to alter specific components of suckling behavior involved in its initiation and maintenance but do not appear to alter a general hunger system.

Animal Population Groups↗
PubMed1979

Brain transections selectively alter ingestion and behavioral activation in neonatal rats.

Food-deprived neonatal rats actively ingest milk that is infused into their mouths through intraoral cannulas. This ingestion is accompanied by behavioral activation. The involvement of various brain regions in ingestion and activation was examined by making transections along the neuraxis from the olfactory bulbs to the anterior pons in 2-day-old rats. Following a 24-hr deprivation period, a series of oral milk infusions was given, and milk intake and activity were measured. Intake was severely reduced only in animals with diencephalic transections. Cuts in front of or behind the diencephalon resulted in normal or slightly decreased intake. In contrast, activity tended to decline as the level of the transection became more caudal. Thus ingestion and its accompanying behavioral activation could be separated neuroanatomically. These results suggest that two brain mechanisms are involved in the ingestive response of the infant rat, one in the diencephalon and another caudal to the mesencephalon. However, behavioral activation appears less discretely organized, involving most of the neuraxis.

Animals↗
PubMed1979

Age-dependent inhibition of suckling by cholecystokinin.

The effects of exogenous cholecystokinin (10--40 U/kg body wt) on neonatal rat suckling were studied in 5-, 10-, 15-, and 20-day-old rats that were equipped with tongue cannulas. Milk (0.1 ml over 10 s) was delivered through the tongue cannula once every minute, providing a rat was still suckling. Cholecystokinin, a well-established inhibitor of adult rat feeding, did not reduce milk intake volume of 5- and 10-day-old rats. It did, however, depress milk intake of 15- and especially of 20-day-old rats. Despite its effect on milk intake, cholecystokinin never lengthened the latency to attach to the nipple and, paradoxically, reduced it on certain occasions. The implications of these findings for the events controlling various aspects of suckling behavior throughout the course of the nursing-suckling period in rats and for the mechanism of action of cholecystokinin are discussed.

Aging↗
PubMed1978

Suckling behavior of the infant rat: modulation by a developing neurotransmitter system.

Drugs which alter serotonin receptor activity modified the suckling behavior of 20-day-old rat pups. Suckling could be reinstated in nondeprived pups, which normally do not suckle, by blockade of serotonin receptors with methysergide. Stimulation of serotonin receptors with quipazine inhibited suckling in deprived pups, and this effect was prevented by methysergide pretreatment. This evidence suggests that suckling in weaning age pups is controlled by a serotonergic inhibitory mechanism.

Animals↗
PubMed1977

Orogastric determinants of drinking in rats: interaction between absorptive and peripheral controls.

Water intake of water-deprived rats, drinking with absorption prevented by pyloric occlusion, was compared with that of rats drinking normally. Drinking without absorption, under the control of only orogastric factors, was not graded in response to varied deprivation (Experiment 1). Orogastric controls effectively inhibited intake after absorbed water, but not isotonic saline, preloads (Experiment 2). The extent of orogastric inhibition was directly related to absorbed preload volume (Experiment 3). With large absorbed water preloads (9 ml), intakes with and without absorption were equal. Normal function of orogastric controls may thus be based on their interaction with absorption, which progressively enhances peripheral inhibition of drinking.

Animals↗
PubMed1976

Oropharyngeal control of drinking in rats.

Drinking was studied in water-deprived rats with chronic intragastric fistulas. Sham drinking, by which the ingested water was immediately lost through the open gastric fistula, was approximately four times greater than normal drinking. This proportion held across different levels of water deprivation, following 5-ml intragastric preloads of water or isotonic saline or ingestion of isotonic saline. The contribution of oropharyngeal controls in the normal drinking of rats is discussed and is compared with that of other species.

Absorption↗
PubMed1975

Weaning and growth of artificially reared rats.

The importance of suckling experience for later feeding in the rat was tested by means of an isolate rearing technique that eliminated oral feeding. Pups reared in the nearly complete absence of suckling and feeding ate and drank at weaning and then grew normally. Furthermore, the characteristics of apparently normal ingestion and growth make the artificially reared rat a useful preparation for other developmental investigations.

Animals↗
PubMed1975

Orogastric, hydrational, and behavioral controls of drinking following water deprivation in rats.

Drinking and its associated behaviors were studied in rats deprived of fluid for 8,24, or 48 hr. The behavior of rats drinking water could be divided into three successive stages: (a) an initial intense burst of drinking that could not be easily disrupted; (b) intermittent drinking, often distinguished by the brief appearance of conflict behavior directed at the drinking spout; and (c) termination of drinking. Drinking stopped well before the fluid loss, reflected in a sizable extracellular deficit, was restored. Intake of water was terminated when serum hyponatremia and hypoosmolality (and presumably cellular overhydration) developed in temporal continguity with drinking. These and other considerations suggest that the cellular fluid phase exerts significant inhibitory as well as excitatory control over drinking.

Animals↗