EFFECTS OF AMPHETAMINE ON NEURONAL ACTIVITY IN HYPOTHALAMUS

In a search for the mechanism of its anorexigenic properties, the effects of d-amphetamine sulphate on the spontaneous firing rate of single units in the ventromedial and lateral hypothalamic areas were studied in curarized rats. Effects of ether were also examined. Amphetamine increased and ether decreased the firing rate of all units observed in the ventromedial nuclei. In the lateral hypothalamus, amphetamine produced no change in some units, and a decrease or an increase in others; ether produced no change in some units and a decrease in others. These results are consistent with the view that amphetamine anorexia arises from an effect on the ventromedial hypothalamus, but they do not rule out the alternative view that the anorexia arises from an effect on the lateral hypothalamus. © 1969.