Dissociation of hunger and self-stimulation by trigeminal deafferentation in the rat

Section of trigeminal orosensory or oromotor nerves reduces food intake and disrupts performance of a food-reinforced lever pressing response but increases the rate of an identical level pressing response reinforced by electrical stimulation of the lateral hypothalamus. Our findings suggest that trigeminal orosensation plays a critical role in the neural control of hunger in the rat. The results also fail to support a response-oriented theory of intracranial self-stimulation where the latter is thought to involve selective facilitation of sensorimotor circuits underlying species-typical consummatory behavior.