Partial reversal of fluoxetine anorexia by the 5-HT antagonist metergoline

Experiment 1 showed that the reduction of intake produced by 5 or 10 mg/kg fluoxetine in rats eating either a solid or a liquid meal was partially antagonised by 1 mg/kg of the 5HT1/5HT2 antagonist metergoline but not by 1 mg/kg of the 5HT2 antagonist ketanserin. Experiment 2 examined the meal patterning of rats given 5 mg/kg fluoxetine and 1 mg/kg metergoline. Fluoxetine alone increased the latency to feed, reduced meal size and shifted the inter-pellet interval (IPI) distribution to the right. Metergoline alone had little immediate effect on food intake or other feeding parameters but partially reversed the reduction of food intake produced by fluoxetine. There was a complete reversal of the increased latency to feed and a partial reversal of the depression of meal size. However, the rightward shift of the IPI distribution caused by fluoxetine, which indicated a depression of feeding rate, was more pronounced after combined treatment. We conclude that fluoxetine reduces food intake by enhancing satiety through a serotonergic dependent mechanism but reduces feeding rate through a separate mechanism, whose neurochemical basis remains to be established.