• The Korean Journal of Pharmacology
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.39-48
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• 1994

The present study was aimed at establishing what changes occur in the dopamine levels and pattern of TH-immunoreactive neurons of certain areas of rat brain during food intake suppression produced by intraperitoneally administration of CCK-8. CCK-8 in dose of $10\;{\mu}g/kg$ was injected intraperitoneally to 48 h food-deprived rats. In the fasted group, the contents of dopamine were decreased in the frontal, striatum, hypothalamus and amygdala as compared to those of the fed control group. The administration of CCK-8 showed significant decrease on the dopamine levels of the hypothalamus, in comparison to those of the sated and starved group. During deprived condition, the density and number of TH-immunoreactive neurons in the paraventricular nucleus, arcuate nucleus, median eminence and substantia nigra were lower than those of the fed control group. After administration of CCK-8, the pattern and distribution of TH-positive neouons in the hypothalamic areas and substantia nigra were increased when compared to those of the starved group. It is concluded that the results demonstrate the partial involvement of hypothalamic dopamine-containing neurons in the feeding inhibition of CCK-8. Furthermore, the results indicate that TH-immunoreactive neurons play on important role in the hypothalamus and substantia nigra for eating behavior