QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text (PDF) Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Kuenzel, W. J. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Kuenzel, W. J.

Central Neuroanatomical Systems Involved in the Regulation of Food Intake in Birds and Mammals¹

Department of Poultry Science, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742

The neural regulation of food intake seems to be quite similar in birds and mammals. The ventromedial hypothalamic syndrome produced by lesions within the mediobasal hypothalamus of both birds and mammals is composed of several independent physiological and behavioral changes. Other neural sites known to be important in mammals for regulating food intake need to be examined in birds including the paraventricular nucleus, nucleus tractus solitarius and parabrachial nucleus. Members of the opioid and pancreatic polypeptide families are effective in stimulating food intake in avian species. Both prolactin and growth hormone are also efficacious in stimulating food intake. In contrast, cholecystokinin inhibits food intake when administered intracerebroventricularly. The autonomic and endocrine hypothesis developed to explain obesity in mammals appears to be quite applicable to genetic strains of commercial birds selected for meat production. Specifically the commercial broiler appears to display an imbalance of the autonomic nervous system. The parasympathetic nervous system dominates as a consequence of intense genetic selection for growth rate.

KEY WORDS: • hypothalamus • opioid peptides • neuropeptide Y • cholecystokinin • autonomic nervous system

¹ Presented as part of the 58th Annual Poultry Nutrition Conference: Food Intake Regulation: Neuropeptides, Circulating Factors and Genetics, given at the Experimental Biology '93 meeting, New Orleans, LA, March 28, 1993. This conference was sponsored by the American Institute of Nutrition and was supported by grants from Archer Daniels Midland Company, Degussa Corporation, Eli Lilly and Company, Merck Sharp & Dohme Research Labs., Perdue Farms Inc., and Rhone-Poulenc, Inc. The guest editor for this symposium was Lee Cartwright, Department of Poultry Science, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				M. P. Richards and M. Proszkowiec-Weglarz Mechanisms Regulating Feed Intake, Energy Expenditure, and Body Weight in Poultry Poult. Sci., July 1, 2007; 86(7): 1478 - 1490. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]