EFFECT OF ADRENALINE ON BAR-PRESSING FOR FOOD AND FOR SELF-STIMULATION

The intraperitoneal administration of adrenaline (A) produced a marked decrease in the rate of bar-pressing for food, by 71 per cent at 0.1 mg/kg and 90 per cent at 0.15 mg/kg. This effect was greater than the anorexigenic effect of A in rats feeding normally for 1 hr daily. A did not produce any change in the rate of bar-pressing for self-stimulation of hypothalamic points unrelated to feeding which shows that the anorexigenic effect is not due to a general impairment of the animal that interferes non-specifically with its feeding behavior. In rats in which hypothalamic stimulation induced feeding, however, A decreased the self-stimulation rate. © 1969.