The tuberal lateral hypothalamus is a major target for GABAA--but not GABAB-mediated control of food intake.

The lateral hypothalamus (LH) is a site of integration for control mechanisms of feeding behavior as it has extensive reciprocal connections with multiple intrahypothalamic and extrahypothalamic brain areas. Evidence suggests that blockade of ionotropric gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) receptors in the LH elicits eating in satiated rats. To determine whether this GABA(A) receptor antagonist effect is specific to the LH, the antagonist picrotoxin was injected into one of six nearby sites and food intake was measured.

GABA(A) receptors in the lateral hypothalamus as mediators of satiety and body weight regulation.

In the lateral hypothalamus (LH), the inhibitory amino acid neurotransmitter, GABA, has had a long-standing presumptive role as an inhibitor of food intake. However, minimal investigation has been focused on GABA, especially as compared to the attention received by many peptide transmitters. To begin to address this deficiency in the understanding of the role of GABA in the LH and feeding, we report that antagonism of GABA(A) receptors in the rat LH elicits feeding, consistent with previous findings, and provide evidence for the behavioral selectivity of this effect.