Figure 5.

Effects of bilateral ventral tegmental area (VTA) lesion on ghrelin-induced feeding and food exploratory activity. (a) I.c.v. ghrelin treatment increased 4-hour chow intake in both sham and VTA-lesioned rats compared with vehicle treatment. Ghrelin-induced chow consumption did not differ between sham and VTA-lesioned rats. (b) I.c.v. ghrelin injection increased the consumption of peanut butter contained in an eppendorf tube in both sham and VTA-lesioned rats compared with vehicle treatment. The consumption of peanut butter following ghrelin injection was, however, attenuated in VTA-lesioned rats compared with sham rats as was (c) the time spent exploring the peanut butter/eppendorf setup. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001, two-way analysis of variance followed by Bonferroni post-hoc test