The Role of Homeostasis in Adipose Tissues upon the Regulation of Food Intake of White Leghorn Cockerels

Abstract

INTRODUCTION THE White Leghorn cockerel normally accumulates little fat in its adipose tissues. Presumably the dipose tissues are under homeostatic control which regulates the amount of fat in the adipose tissues. Control over homeostasis in the adipose tissues seems to reside in the hypothalamus since lesions in the ventromedial area of the hypothalamus cause hyperphagia and obesity (Lepkovsky and Yasuda, 1966); the lesions may have acted centrally and evoked urges to eat (appetite); or the lesions acted indirectly and upset homeostasis in the adipose tissues and elicited the accumulation of abnormally large amounts of fat in the depots. The accumulation of fat in the adipose tissues, evoked by the diversion of food energy to the depots, was accompanied by a compensatory increase in food intake. The objective of this study was to secure information on the effect of the forced feeding of excessive amounts of food into White Leghorn cockerels…