The discriminative stimulus effects of neuropeptide Y

Neuropeptide Y (NPY), an endogenous peptide which strongly induces food intake, is demonstrated to have discriminative stimulus properties when administered intracerebroventricularly. Rats rapidly learned to press the appropriate lever during training. NPY discrimination was dose-dependent. NPY's discriminative stimulus properties were compared to those of two doses of Peptide YY (PYY) and 24 and 48 h of food deprivation, conditions which also increase feeding. Both doses of PYY generalized to NPY, supporting previous findings that PYY has effects similar to NPY. Although food deprivation increases feeding in a manner similar to NPY, food deprivation did not result in NPY-appropriate responding.