Further characterization of fat diet-induced changes in responsiveness to estrogen and glucose

Possible reasons for hyperresponsiveness to the anorexic influence of estrogen of rats fed a high-fat (F) diet were explored. It was found that (1) hyperresponsiveness appeared unrelated to body weight, (2) other estrogenic effects (upon vaginal epithelia and upon mating behavior) were normal in F-fed rats, (3) hyperresponsiveness to estrogen was not a result of alterations in brain dopamine or norepinephrine, (4) F-fed rats were also hyperresponsive to postabsorptive satiating effects of intragastric glucose loads. Thus, an altered glucose metabolism of F-fed rats may be related to an increased responsiveness to the anorexic effects of estrogen.