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Enhanced Responses of the Chorda Tympani Nerve to Sugars in the Ventromedial Hypothalamic Obese Rat

¹Department of Veterinary Physiology, Faculty of Agriculture, and ²Department of Basic Veterinary Science, United Graduate School of Veterinary Sciences, Gifu University, Gifu 501-1193; and ³Department of Oral Physiology, School of Dentistry, Meikai University, Saitama 350p-0283, Japan

Submitted 26 December 2002; accepted in final form 5 March 2003

Sweet taste sensitivity in obese rats with lesions of the ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH) was studied by examining chorda tympani nerve responses to various taste stimuli including sugars. In the early progressive phase of obesity (2 wk after creating VMH lesions), there was no significant difference in the nerve responses to any taste stimulus between sham-operated and VMH-lesioned rats. In contrast, in the late phase of obesity (15–18 wk after VMH lesions), the magnitude of responses to sugars (except for fructose) was prominently greater than that in age-matched controls. High-fat diet-induced obese rats and streptozotocin-diabetic rats also showed greater chorda tympani nerve responses to sugars as was observed in VMH-lesioned obese rats, indicating that VMH lesions might not be specifically related to the enhanced gustatory neural responses to sugars. Although it has been demonstrated that the enhanced responses of the chorda tympani nerve to sugars in genetically diabetic db/db mice is largely attributable to the lack of the direct suppressive effect of leptin on the taste receptor cells, plasma leptin levels were not correlated with the changes in chorda tympani responsiveness to sugars in these models of obesity and diabetes. Accordingly, our results suggest that some chronic factors, including high blood glucose, inefficiency of insulin action, or leptin resistance may be related to the enhancement of chorda tympani nerve responses to sugars.

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