Myriam L. Hoffmann

Presystemic signals in the control of thirst, salt appetite, and vasopressin secretion

Presystemic signals play an important role in the control of ingestive behavior by allowing animals to anticipate imminent physiological changes. The significance of such signals in the control of food intake has been amply demonstrated and is widely appreciated. Our recent experiments have revealed that presystemic signals also provide important early feedback when rats drink water or NaCl solution, before the ingested fluids are absorbed and influence cerebral osmoreceptors or cardiovascular baroreceptors. These early signals clearly affect vasopressin (VP) secretion and thirst. They relate either to the distension of the stomach and proximal small intestine (presumably mediated by local stretch receptors) or to the concentration of fluid that empties from the stomach into the small intestine (presumably mediated by visceral osmo- or Na(+)-receptors). Dehydrated dogs use functionally comparable signals from the oropharynx while drinking in order to inhibit both VP secretion and thirst. However, that system differs in several respects from the system in rats aside from the fact that the presystemic signals in rats are not oropharyngeal: in rodents, (a) separate early signals influence VP secretion and thirst, (b) early signals can provide both stimulation and inhibition of VP secretion and thirst, and (c) the early signals are associated with both the volume and concentration of ingested fluid. These presystemic signals also inhibit the intake of NaCl solution by rats with salt appetite.

Increased water intake by rats maintained on high NaCl diet: analysis of ingestive behavior

To determine the temporal relation between the ingestion of dry food containing 8% NaCl and the increased daily consumption of water that occurs when rats eat this diet, rats were placed in specially designed cages linked to microprocessors that allowed the continuous monitoring of food and water ingestion. The increase in water intake was found to result from increases both in number and size of individual drinking bouts. Approximately 75% of the water intake was consumed in drinking bouts that occurred less than 5 min after feeding. Indeed, rats rarely consumed 8% NaCl diet without also drinking water in the same ingestive episode, and the volume of water they drank was proportional to the food intake in that episode. These and other observations suggest that ingestion of the high salt diet stimulated thirst rapidly. As such, they are consistent with previous reports that visceral osmoreceptors (or Na(+)-receptors) detect osmolytes passing through the gastrointestinal tract and provide an early stimulus of thirst in rats that precedes large increases in systemic plasma osmolality.

Control of thirst and salt appetite in rats: early inhibition of water and NaCl ingestion.

Most previous studies on the controls of thirst and salt appetite in rats have focused on systemic factors. Our recent experiments suggest that presystemic factors also are likely to play an important role. For example, dehydrated rats were found to consume similar volumes in an initial drinking bout when given access either to water or 0.05, 0.10, 0.15, or 0.20 M NaCl solution. Thus, cessation of the bouts evidently was not related to the concentration of fluid consumed but to its volume. It occurred despite the continued presence of known systemic stimuli for thirst (i.e. either increased plasma osmolality or decreased plasma volume), and therefore it resulted from inhibition rather than satiation. This inhibition appeared to derive from signals related to the cumulative volume of ingested fluid in the stomach and small intestine. Similar findings were obtained in studies of NaCl solution intake by NaCl-deprived adrenalectomized rats. These and other observations suggest that gastrointestinal fill generates stimuli that inhibit drinking in rats regardless of whether thirst or salt appetite motivates fluid consumption and regardless of whether rats consume water or NaCl solution.