Hypothalamic Lesions, Growth and Body Composition of Male Chickens

HYPERPHAGIA and aphagia have been produced in many animals with appropriate lesions in the hypothalamus (Brobeck, 1946; Mayer, 1953). Previously, numerous attempts in this laboratory to produce hyperphagia in chickens by means of lesions in the ventromedial nucleus failed. As a guide, the coordinates which had been successfully used to produce hyperphagia in rats were used in placing lesions in the hypothalamus of the chickens. While hyperphagic chickens were not produced, aphagic chickens were produced (Feldman et al., 1957). The lesions that produced aphagia were in the anterior, medial or posterior hypothalamus, and not localized in a specific area of the lateral hypothalamus as they were in rats. The results indicated that aphagia was caused by the interruption of a neural circuit and this agreed with the suggestion made by Brobeck (1955). An atlas of the hypothalamus was constructed, and it indicated that hypothalamic organization of a chicken was …