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Four-week-old female rats received parasagittal hypothalamic knife cuts. Polydipsia began right surgery, but hyperphagia, obesity, and excessive nose-anal length did not begin until after the rats were 7-8 wk. old. The delayed onset appears to await some maturational event that is required for the expression of hypothalamic obesity. It appears likely that puberty is the critical maturational event.
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Gold et al. (1975) studied this question.
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