Food deprivation and insulin-induced feeding in the hamster

Adult male hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus) do not increase their food consumption in a 6 hr feeding test following 18 hr of food deprivation, but the latency to eat is significantly reduced. Deprived hamsters demonstrate hyperphagia in response to 10 units/kg of insulin, a dosage which does not produce hyperphagia in non-deprived hamsters. Higher dosages of insulin (30 and 50 units/kg) cause a similar degree of hyperphagia in both deprived and non-deprived hamsters. A parallel experiment indicates that those combinations of insulin administration and food deprivation which produce hyperphagia also cause the most extreme degree of hypoglycemia (less than 30 mg/dl). These results indicate that food deprivation renders the hamster more sensitive to the hyperphagia-inducing effects of insulin, and that there is a consistent relationship between the hamster's metabolic and behavioural responses to exogenous insulin.