Atropine Depression of Food and Water Intake in the Rat

¹ From the Thudichum Psychiatric Research Laboratory, Galesburg State Research Hospital, Galesburg, Illinois

The effect of atropine upon food and water intake was investigated in the albino rat. Dosages up to approximately 7 mg/kg of atropine sulfate were used in two experiments upon water intake and an experiment upon food intake. Atropine depressed both food and water intake to some limiting value. Eating was reduced to a greater extent than was drinking relative to the control conditions. The experimental arrangements obviated the possibility that the depression of water intake, by atropine, is contingent upon reduced food intake, while the procedure used for studying food intake did not exclude the possibility of the observed reduction of eating being dependent upon reduced drinking. However, the relatively greater reduction of eating as compared with drinking suggests that such a dependency will not account for the total effect.