The Hypothalamic Syndrome in Rats with Experimental Lesions

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Abstract
Lesions were placed in the hypothalami of Sprague-Dawley rats by means of electrodes inserted perpendicular to the midsagittal plane of the brain. Some exhibited hyperphagia, polydipsia, obesity, sham rage and changes in estrus cycles with no change in colonic temperature. Others with low body temperature died of starvation. Most of the lesions responsible for the above syndrome were located in the anterior portion of the ventrotuberal hypothalamus. Large and extensive lesions of the anterior hypothalamus produced the same results while small lesions did not. Lesions in the ventrotuberal area of the hypothalamus need not be large to produce this syndrome providing these lesions damage the ventromedial nuclei and the areas immediately lateral to these nuclei.