Inhibition of chemically elicited feeding and drinking by autonomic blocking agents

Feeding and drinking can be elicited by the injection of microgram quantities of Norepinephrine or Carbachol, respectively, into the limbic system and hypothalamus of the rat. The effects, on these ingestive responses, of intracerebral injection of the adrenergic antagonist, phentolamine, or the cholinergic antagonist, atropine, were investigated. In one condition, both the agonist and antagonist were injected into the same site; in the other condition, the two agents were injected into two different sites. The evidence suggested some selective blockade of adrenergic feeding and cholinergic drinking by autonomic blocking agents.