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Loss of brain serotonin was associated with overeating and increased body weight. Rats injected with p-chlorophenylalanine intraventricularly began overeating after 3 days and continued to display marked hyperphagia, primarily in the daytime, accompanied by increased body weight for 1 to 2 weeks. The effect was related to drug dose and to the degree and duration of serotonin depletion. Norepinephrine and dopamine levels were not significantly affected. It is concluded that p-chlorophenylalanine disinhibits feeding, as it does a number of other behaviors, by depleting serotonin. This suggests that hypothalamic lesions or dietary deficiencies which selectively and sufficiently deplete serotonin would lead to overeating.
Breisch et al. (Fri,) studied this question.