Behavioural and Autonomic Patterns Evoked by Stimulation of the Lateral Hypothalamic Area in the Cat

Abstract

Abstract Folkow. B. and E. H. Rubinstein. Behavioural and autonomic patterns evoked by stimulation of the lateral hypothalamic area in the cat . Acta physiol. scand. 1965. 65 . 292–299. ‐ Topical electrical stimulation of the so‐called ‘feeding centre’ and adjacent parts of the lateral hypothalamus of the cat was performed in awake animals. In some of the animals a clearly stimulus‐bound food consumption took place, and stimulation of the same structure produced in the anesthetized animals a fairly specific autonomic adjustment, involving activation of vagal fibres to the gastrointestinal tract and a sympathetically mediated cardiovascular adjustment, favoring gastrointestinal blood flow. The more frequently occurring behavioral response to stimulation of the lateral hypothalamic area involved a searching or“appetitive” exploratory response without any actual food intake during the stimulation. When stimulation in the same electrode positions was performed in the anesthetized animals no consistent or clear‐cut autonomic adjustments could be observed. The possible interrelationship between the“feeding response” and the“exploratory response” is briefly discussed. These somatomotor and visceromotor response patterns differed markedly from those obtained by stimulation of more ventrally placed but closely adjacent parts of the lateral hypothalamus. The effects induced from these electrode positions, the“alarm response”, involved a well defined attack or flight reaction, coupled with a sympathetically mediated gastro‐intestinal inhibition and a characteristic cardiovascular adjustment. favouring muscle blood flow at the expense of gastro‐intestinal blood flow.