HYPERINSULINEMIA AND GLUCOSE-TOLERANCE IN OBESE RATS WITH LESIONS OF THE VENTROMEDIAL HYPOTHALAMUS - DEPENDENCE ON FOOD-INTAKE AND ROUTE OF ADMINISTRATION

This study was performed to investigate the consequences of developing obesity on glucose homeostasis in animals showing hyperphagia plus vagal hyperinsulinemia and rats that were normophagic and hyperinsulinemic. Male rats were lesioned in the ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH) and kept either under ad libitum or absolute (oral or intragastrical) pair-feeding conditions for 4 weeks. Hyperphagic rats, as well as normophagic VMH rats, became obese, but only ad lib-fed obese rats displayed glucose intolerance to intravenous (IV) glucose infusions. Orally pair-fed VMH rats also showed normal oral and intragastric glucose tolerance, but in intragastrically fed VMH animals and controls, oral and intragastric glucose tolerance was decreased. These results indicate that (1) obesity as a consequence of VMH lesions is not dependent on hyperphagia, confirming earlier reports, and also independent of the ingestion of bulk meals. (2) β-cell release of insulin to IV glucose infusion is not sufficient when hyperphagia and vagally mediated hyperinsulinemia coincide, and is therefore dependent on several factors; and (3) oral glucose intolerance develops when preabsorptive reflexes are blunted, irrespective of whether the animals were hyperinsulinemic or not. © 1991.