SEVERAL EXPERIMENTS DEMONSTRATED THAT BOTH NOREPINEPHRINE AND CARBACHOL AFFECTED DRINKING AND EATING BEHAVIOR OF RATS WHEN INJECTED INTO THE ANTERIOR HYPOTHALAMIC AREA AND PREOPTIC AREA. THE DRUGS APPEARED TO ACT PRINCIPALLY ON WATER INTAKE, TO EITHER ENHANCE OR INHIBIT IT, AND THE EFFECT DEPENDED UPON NOT ONLY THE PARTICULAR DRUG AND TYPE OF DEPRIVATION, BUT ALSO STIMULATION LOCUS. NOREPINEPHRINE, IN GENERAL, PRODUCED A DECREMENT IN DRINKING, WHEREAS CARBACHOL PRODUCED AN INCREMENT IN DRINKING. HOWEVER, NOREPINEPHRINE PRODUCED AN INCREASE IN DRINKING IF ADMINISTERED IN THE PREOPTIC AREA DURING FOOD DEPRIVATION, AND CARBACHOL PRODUCED A DECREASE IN DRINKING IF ADMINISTERED IN THE ANTERIOR HYPOTHALAMIC AREA IN WATER-DEPRIVED SS. (18 REF.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)