Localization of the adrenergic feeding system in the rat diencephalon

Injection of 6 micrograms of aqueous norepinephrine elicits eating only when it takes place at sites within a limited region of the rat brain. The distribution of effective sites coincides with that of systems connected to an extrahypothalamic pathway between the limbic forebrain and tegmental motor systems. It does not correspond to those parts of the lateral hypothalamus thought to control normal feeding.