Fragmented behavior sequences in rats with lateral hypothalamic lesions: An alternative reason for intrameal prandial drinking.

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Abstract
Rats in stages 3 or 4 after lateral hypothalamic lesions were studied in a number of feeding situations. These animals showed intrameal prandial drinking when dry food and water were available. Meals of liquid diet were interrupted by short bouts of activity and saccharin drinking in stage 3 was composed of many small drafts. The rats have a propensity to interrupt ongoing behaviors (fragmentation), which can account for general activity and wheel running that occur along with intrameal prandial drinking. The probability of drinking during meals was decreased with water infusions and increased with NaCl infusion. When they were hungry, recovered laterals ate 4.5 g of dry food without pausing to drink. These new data raise questions concerning the state of the salivary-insufficiency (dry mouth) explanation of intrameal drinking; the fragmentation hypothesis can incorporate the data, and the possible neural correlates of this fragmentation are discussed.