Vanadate stimulates in vivo glucose uptake in brain and arrests food intake and body weight gain in rats.

Vanadate, administered via drinking fluid (0.2-0.8 mg/ml in 80 mM NaCl), attenuated food intake and strongly suppressed body weight gain in normally-fed or 20-hour food-deprived rats. At 0.8 mg/ml for 4 days, oral vanadate significantly stimulated the rate of hexose uptake by brain tissue. When microinjected into the lateral cerebral ventricle at a dose of 82 nmol, vanadate strongly and specifically suppressed food intake and body weight gain in 20-hour food deprived rats previously maintained on tap water. This inhibitory effect was reversed by coadministration of 3-O-methyl glucose. Collectively, the results suggest that vanadate is capable of blocking food intake by a specific effect in the central nervous system that involves stimulation of local glucose uptake.