Hypothalamic Lesions Associated with Goldthioglucose-Induced Obesity.

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Abstract
The response to goldthioglucose-induced obesity differs in 2 genetically independent inbred strains of mice (CBA and C57BL). This difference in response to a specific dose is associated with degree of hypothalamic damage, more extensive in CBA than in C57BL mice, the former becoming more obese than the latter. Even when hypothalamic lesions comparable to those induced in very obese CBA mice are obtained by relatively large doses of gold-thioglucose in C57BL mice, weight gain is approximately 1/2 of that appearing in CBA''s. Lesions of the fornix also occurred in CBA but not in C57BL mice; these lesions may be related to greater weight increment in CBA mice. A further possibility is a genetically controlled (peripheral) metabolic difference in reaction to hypothalamic lesions in these 2 inbred strains. Lesions of variable and predictable size can be induced by altering the dose of injected goldthioglucose and so provides an opportunity to study localization of hypothalamic function.