Effect of operative stress on food intake and feeding pattern in female rats

Effects of operative stress on food intake, meal size, and meal number were measured in 15 female rats before and after jugular vein catheterization. All rats had 5-d estrous cycles which correlated with cyclical feeding patterns that were most prominent during dark phase eating. In proestrous, meal number peaked (30.3+/-1.32), and meal size reached a nadir (0.33+/-0.02 g) with some corresponding change in food intake (9.8+/-0.38 g). Following operation on day 11, the cyclical variation of food intake, meal number, and meal size with estrous cycle was lost for the first 3 d, as was the diurnal rhythm in food intake. Eight rats recovered their dark phase feeding pattern by day 17 (recovered group), while 7 had not done so even by day 24 (non-recovered group). Food intake decreased to 40% of baseline in the recovered group and to 25% in the non-recovered group on day 11, increasing to 70% by day 14 in both groups and matching preoperative levels by day 17. Similar postoperative decreases were observed in meal number and meal size. Light phase feeding was increased, the ratio of day to night food intake being three times preoperative levels even at day 24. Preoperatively, non-recovered rats were similar to the recovered rats in all feeding indexes and continued to have estrous cycling in vaginal smears postoperatively. In the non-recovered rats, meal size more than doubled and meal number was depressed by 47% of preoperative levels and remained low until the end of the study. We conclude that operative stress disrupted cyclical and diurnal rhythms in food intake. In female rats, meal size is the first index to recover, increasing temporarily to maintain food intake.