Drinking and feeding induced by jugular and portal infusions of 2-deoxy-D-glucose.

Intravenous infusions of three levels of 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2DG) were made through chronically implanted jugular and portal cannulas in rats. Food and water intakes were unaffected by 100 mg/kg 2DG, enhanced by 200 and 400 mg/kg 2DG, and unrelated to the route of administration. Drug-induced drinking occurred as readily when food was present as in its absence. Infusions of 2DG also produced stupor and ataxia whose severity was proportional, as was feeding and drinking, to the dose administered. Drinking induced by 2DG is inconsistent with the glucoprivic theory of feeding, and it was proposed that the consummatory and aberrant behaviors elicited by 2DG may result from hypoglycemia-induced seizures in limbic structures of the brain.