Feeding and Drinking Responses and Hypothalamic Monoamine Concentrations of Neonatal Chicks Following Intracerebroventricular Injection of 6-OHDA

Abstract

Bungo, T., Tachibana, T., Sashihara, K., Kawakami, S.-I., Ohgushi A., Furuse, M. and Ueda, H. 2002. Feeding and drinking responses and hypothalamic monoamine concentrations of neonatal chicks following intracerebroventricular injection of 6-OHDA. J. Appl. Anim. Res., 22: 183–192.

To clarify the involvement of catecholaminergic systems in the regulation of food and water intake in the neonatal chick, 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) or fusaric acid (FA) was administered intracerebroventricularly ICV) and the concentrations of monoamine in the hypothalamus were determined. We found that food intake was significantly increased by ICV injection of 6-OHDA (25, 50 and 100 μg) until 60 min after injection, but the effect disappeared at 120 min. Although both 6-OHDA and FA had no significant effect on water intake, the water consumption in chicks treated with FA tended to be higher than that with saline (control). Norepinephrine (NE) in the hypothalamus was reduced in chicks treated with 6-OHDA (P<0.05). These results indicate that changes in NE concentration of the hypothalamus mainly influence food intake in chicks.

Keywords:

• Food intake
• 6-hydroxydopamine
• monoamine
• hypothalamus
• chick