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The Role of the Rat in Research on Control of Ingestion: A Commentary and Review of Recent Advances in Understanding Brain Control of Food Intake¹

University of Idaho², Moscow 83843 and Washington State University^,3, Pullman 99164

Abstract

The majority of data concerning the control of food intake in mammals is derived from studies of laboratory rats. Some ingestive controls, identified in rats, seem to operate identically in most farm species. Other controls, which have been identified in nonrodent species, appear to be absent in the rat. Thinking about the neural control of ingestion in agricultural species is based almost entirely on inferences drawn from experiments performed with rats. Recent studies of brain substrates of ingestive control have revealed a prominent role for the caudal hindbrain. Recognition of the caudal hindbrain's participation in the control of ingestion emphasizes the longitudinal integration of brain control of ingestion. Consequently, we must refrain from assuming that the basal forebrain is the unique site for brain control of ingestion. Progress in the investigation of the neural controls of food intake will continue to depend heavily on studies in the rat. Such studies can speed the development of understanding of ingestive controls in farm species by prescribing critical comparative studies. Lack of circumspection prior to initiation and interpretation of such comparative studies can lead, however, to costly misreading of the pattern of ingestive physiology in farm species.

¹ Presented at a symposium on "Controls of Feeding in Farm Animals" held July 27, 1983 at the 75th Annu. Meet. Amer. Soc. Anim. Sci., Washington State Univ., Pullman.

² WOI Regional Program in Vet. Med. Education.

³ Dept. of Vet. Comp. Anat., Pharmacol, and physiol.

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