S. Bovetto et D. Richard, LESION OF CENTRAL NUCLEUS OF AMYGDALA PROMOTES FAT GAIN WITHOUT PREVENTING EFFECT OF EXERCISE ON ENERGY-BALANCE, American journal of physiology. Regulatory, integrative and comparative physiology, 38(4), 1995, pp. 781-786
Male Wistar rats with intact or lesioned central nucleus of amygdala (
CeA) were kept at rest or subjected to a treadmill running program for
21 consecutive days. Food intake and body weight were monitored throu
ghout the exercise training program. At the end of the program, rats w
ere killed and their carcasses processed for analysis of the contents
in energy, fat, and protein. Exercise and CeA lesions induced opposite
effects on energy balance; exercise delayed gains in body energy and
fat, whereas CeA lesions promoted them. Total energy intake was lower
in exercised rats than in sedentary ones over the 12 and 24 h that fol
lowed exercise. Food intake was higher in lesioned rats than in intact
animals over the second half of the 12-h period that followed exercis
e. There was no interaction effect of exercise and CeA lesions on ener
gy balance and intake and on body composition. Plasma levels of adreno
corticotropin hormone and corticosterone were higher in exercised rats
than in sedentary ones, but there was no difference between lesioned
and intact rats. This study, as well as confirming the effect of exerc
ise on energy balance, indicates that CeA lesions may promote energy d
eposition in rats. Above all the present results provide evidence that
CeA does not represent a necessary neuroanatomic structure in the eff
ect of exercise on energy balance.