Hypothalamic Lesions Associated with Goldthioglucose-Induced Obesity. ∗

Abstract

Summary

The response to goldthioglucose-induced obesity differs in two 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 goldthioglucose in C₅₇BL mice, weight gain is approximately one-half 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 the 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.