[Electrical activity of the subcortical structures and the cerebral cortex in hunger]

It has been demonstrated in chronic experiments on dogs with electrodes implanted into different brain areas and with a gastric fistula according to Basov that there is a consistent variation in the encephalographic picture of electrical activity of subcortical structures and brain cortex depending on periodic activity of the gastrointestinal tract. These changes have been discovered to correlate with blood glucose content. The reported data have been confirmed concerning the release of nutritive substances from the depot at the end of an active period of gastric motility. This is attested to by an increase in blood glucose concentration and appearance of high-amplitude slow fluctuations in subcortical structures and brain cortex. Exogenous cholecystokinin-pancreozymin has been demonstrated to have a characteristic effect on electrical activity of brain structures under study, which might serve one more evidence in favour of the involvement of this hormone in periodic activity of the gastrointestinal tract.