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Query: UMLS:C0020175 (hunger)
 5,670 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The liver of Xenopus laevis was examined with electron microscopy. Its structure was found to be markedly different from that of mammals, particularly regarding the morphology of the hepatocytes to be classified as typical. It was established that the main function of such a cell is the storage of glycogen, and further that it possesses only scant organelles and other inclusions. Since this type of cell was found most frequently in the liver of untreated animals, it was designated as normal cell. The fact appears noteworthy that in the normal liver of Xenopus laevis an abundance of cell types occur which are otherwise found to be proliferated under experimental conditions, e.g. cells with pronouncedly augmented RER, enlarged Golgi complexes, increased lipid inclusions etc. This high number of divergent hepatocytes and the fact that all intermediate stages between the individual extremes are present and not to be accounted for by the position of the cell within the liver was interpreted as being the expression of a cyclic passage of the various stages of activity. It is of special interest that augmented degradation of glycogen in the liver cell takes place only during vitellogenesis. Acute and chronic hunger, as well as adaptation to cold, hardly affect the morphology of the normal cell, especially as far as the glycogen is concerned. The possible causes for this are discussed.
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PMID:Studies on the liver of Xenopus laevis. I. The ultrastructure of the parenchymal cell. 16 14

The effect of the antiserotoninergic agent cyproheptadine (C) on the adrenal system was studied in male rats, the adrenocorticol function of which was assessed by analysis of the urinary excretion of free corticosterone. After a feeding period with 0.5--0.7 mg C/kg body weight/day for several months significant differences in the urinary excretion of free corticosterone were only found when the rats were exposed to systemic stress stimuli as cold (increase from 118.7 +/- 5.3 to 305.5 +/- 5.1 vs. 417.8 +/- 48.6 ng/d in the controls; p less than 0.001) and hunger (no increase of free corticosterone in treated animals as compared to an increase to 446.0 +/- 53.6 ng/d in the controls). In contrast to these findings no effect of C was seen when studying the neurotropic stress stimuli reserpine and ether. The same was true when measuring free corticosterone under basal conditions and after ACTH- or metyrapone stimulation. It is concluded that serotonin plays a major role as hypothalamic neurotransmitter in systemic but not in the studied neurotropic stress stimuli. The site of serotonin action does not comprise adrenal synthesis of steroids and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal feedback system, as is shown by the ACTH- and metyrapone stimulation tests.
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PMID:[Effect of cyproheptadine on the regulation of the adrenal system (author's transl)]. 22 3

A study was made of the amount of a labile and a stable glycogen fractions in the rat liver cells under various feeding regimes and different durations of liver perfusion. The amount of the glycogen fraction revealed after a 40 minutes' treatment in a Schiff type reagent--Auramine--SO2 was found most chaneable at hunger, at feeding with carbohydrate rich food and at liver perfusion. This fraction is removed from the cells after the treatment with cold trichloroacetic acid (TCA-fraction). The amount of the glycogen fraction revealed after a more prolonged treatment of cells (90 minutes) in Auramine--SO2 and extracted only with hot KOH (KOH fraction), is relatively stable. According to the cytochemical evidence, the TCA and KOH fraction contents in the rat liver cells reach 80--85 and 15--20%, resp. The cytochemical evidence provided obtained with the fluorescence PAS-reaction permits to consider as identic the glycogen fractions revealed with biochemical methods.
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PMID:[A microfluorimetric study of glycogen fractions in rat liver under different conditions of liver perfusion and animal nutrition]. 94 Dec 86

For many years western psychiatrists only out of their clinical experience have known about a syndrome for which the name Stasi-persecution-syndrome will be used here. Stasi was the all powerful secret police of what was the East German Democratic Republic. The syndrome concerns an hitherto unknown number of the aprox. 50,000 survivors. It is a sequel of a form of persecution now more generally named torture. The characteristics of the persecution include arrestion, interrogations, degradation, humiliation, maltreatment, assault, mass detention in tiny rooms, hunger, cold, discrimination, defamation, disgrace, outlaw, social degradation, absence of rights, uncertainty of future, life threatening, and stigmatizing. The sequels resemble in many aspects of what is known by the psychiatry of the persecuted, but own a special flavor. Among the sequels are persisting and paranoid anxieties, re-arousable by specific situations. There are also realistic anxiety and persecution dreams, mood disturbances, lack of confidence, attempted suicide and complaints about lack of understanding by others, which the victims suffer from. Questions of indemnification for psychiatric sequelae have entered into a new stage after the East-German parliament had passed a rehabilitation bill and because of corresponding declarations in the unification treaty. Psychiatrists should fight for treatment costs and appropriate compensation for physical and psychiatric sequels of Stasi persecution to be set into reality as soon as possible. There is urgent need for a not yet existing scientific literature and publications of clinical experiences.
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PMID:[The Stasi persecution syndrome]. 191 83

Several experimental models for studying emotion and motivation in laboratory animals have been developed in these last years. A new interesting approach for evaluating some emotional and motivational states in rodents is represented by the measurement of ultrasonic emission in various situations, mainly: by infants when removed from the nest and apparently under stress, cold and/or hunger; during sexual behaviour; during aggressive encounters; in response to aversive stimuli. The calls differ somewhat in their physical characteristics depending on the species and on the situation. Examples of ultrasonic emissions which could be valuable as bioassays in Behavioural Toxicology are described here together with what is known of the biological function of the calls.
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PMID:Ultrasonic vocalization in rodents: a new potential tool for detecting emotional and motivational changes produced by adverse treatments. 312 89

This study compared reports of appetite and symptoms in 28 obese subjects randomly assigned to either a 500 calorie protein-sparing modified fast (PSMF) or a 1200-kcal balanced diet. During the first comparison month, subjects consuming the PSMF lost significantly more weight and reported significantly less hunger than did subjects consuming the 1200 kcal diet. Similar results were obtained for the second month, but differences in hunger were not statistically significant. There were no significant differences between conditions in subjects' ratings of their preoccupation with eating or in their ratings of the acceptability or disruptiveness of their diets. PSMF subjects reported significantly greater problems with cold intolerance, constipation, dizziness, dry skin, and fatigue. These symptoms remitted completely, however, when PSMF subjects consumed a 1200-kcal balanced diet. There were no significant differences between conditions in subjects' reports of psychological functioning. Results are discussed in terms of the need for further research to identify the characteristics of PSMF which confer anorexia.
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PMID:Less food, less hunger: reports of appetite and symptoms in a controlled study of a protein-sparing modified fast. 366 60

More than one hundred monks belonging to Nichirenshu, a major Buddhist sect in Japan, participated in the annual hundred days austerities during the winter. Cold water bathing, insufficient sleep, hunger and emotional impact are considered to be the major stressors experienced by the monks subjected to these austere regimes. This study was conducted to evaluate the endocrinological and physiological changes in twenty newcomer monks during the first four weeks of the austerities. The urinary concentration of noradrenaline (NOR) increased significantly during the first four weeks but not that of adrenaline (ADR). The changes in urinary concentration of ADR and NOR indicated the main stressors possibly to be low ambient temperature and hunger. NOR is thus probably a better indicator than ADR for evaluating stress under austere conditions. Blood pressure (BP) did not rise but the concentration of NOR was noted to increase. NOR may possibly be excreted in excessive amounts to maintain normal BP against hypotensive factors such as loss of body weight due to low calorie intake.
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PMID:Changes in blood pressure, body weight and urinary catecholamines during austerities. 383 Jan 40

1. Aggressive behaviour was elicited in rats that had been deprived of food for 20 h daily (starved), by chronic administration of Cannabis sativa extract or (-)-Delta(9)-trans-tetrahydrocannabinol.2. The influence of intraperitoneal (i.p.) or oral glucose administration, cold environment, acidosis, and corn, and protein-free diets on this aggressiveness was studied.3. Intraperitoneal injections of glucose (100-1,600 mg/kg) did not alter the aggressiveness induced by marihuana in starved rats; glucose given orally, however, blocked this behaviour.4. Low temperature (14 degrees C) strongly potentiated the aggressive behaviour induced by marihuana in the starved rats.5. Lactic acid in doses capable of potentiating thiopental anaesthesia, failed to alter the marihuana-aggressiveness of starved rats or to facilitate this effect of marihuana in rats fed ad libitum. The same negative results were obtained with ammonium chloride.6. In rats fed ad libitum with protein-free or corn diets, marihuana administered chronically did not elicit aggressive behaviour. However, aggressiveness appeared when rats were fed for only 2 h daily on those diets.7. The results suggest that the stress of hunger (and not hypoglycaemia, acidosis or lack of specific nutrients due to starvation) is the factor that facilitates the development of aggressive behaviour by chronic administration of marihuana.
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PMID:Factors influencing the aggressiveness elicited by marihuana in food-deprived rats. 506 30

The present study deals with the question as to what extent the sympathetically innervated rat pineal gland is affected by a number of short-term exogenous stimuli given during day-time, as assessed by measuring pineal serotonin-N-acetyltransferase activity (NAT) which is directly proportional to melatonin formation. In male Sprague-Dawley rats kept under LD 12:12 pineal NAT was statistically significantly depressed by physical immobilization for 2 hours, swimming for 15 min in water of 10 and 30 degrees C, exposure for 2 hours to cold (5 degrees C) or heat (40 degrees C), noise (90 db) for 2 hours and hunger for 17 hours. An increase in NAT was noted after swimming for 15 min in water of 20 degrees C. No effect was detectable after 17 hours of thirst or hunger combined with thirst and in one of 2 experiments involving exposure to heat (40 degrees C, 2 hours) and insulin-induced hypoglycemia. In animals kept under continuous illumination for 48 hours, immobilization resulted in a slightly smaller decrease than under LD 12:12 and insulin-induced hypoglycemia led to a striking increase of NAT. As the changes in pineal NAT are brought about by rather strong exogenous stimuli it is suspected that the rat pineal gland during day-time is not very susceptible to ambient factors of normal range.
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PMID:The effects of a number of short-term exogenous stimuli on pineal serotonin-N-acetyltransferase activity in rats. 637 Nov 90

Analysis of motivated behaviors indicates the presence of two components, a component that is specific to a particular behavior and a nonspecific component that they all share. Thus, feeding and drinking may be readily differentiated from each other, yet behavioral arousal is a feature of both. Accumulating evidence now suggests that brain catecholamines are involved in the nonspecific aspects of behavior. For example, a variety of sensory stimuli have been shown to increase activity in central catecholaminergic systems measured by electrophysiological, biochemical and electrochemical techniques. Conversely, destruction of these systems leads to a profound decrease in sensory responsiveness. We have been studying the role of the dopamine-containing neurons of the nigrostriatal bundle in motivated behavior. Studies in which dopaminergic activity was monitored in striatum indicate that dopamine release is markedly, though briefly, elevated in response to a variety of intense environmental stimuli, including cold and tail shock. On the other hand, lesions of this pathway impair sensorimotor integration and, thereby, lead to akinesia, sensory neglect and the virtual elimination of all voluntary activities. Moreover, although there is a gradual recovery of function in these brain-damaged animals, they remain less sensitive to stimulation than control animals. For example, they eat but maintain body weight at a level considerably lower than controls, presumably because it takes a greater stimulus of hunger to provoke feeding and less food intake to cause that stimulus to slip below threshold levels of activation. These, and other findings, suggest an important role of brain catecholamines in behavioral arousal, that is, in permitting animals to remain alert and to respond appropriately to relevant sensory stimuli.
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PMID:Brain catecholamines and the central control of food intake. 639 7


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