Effect of mazindol on feeding behaviour and on noradrenergic function of various parts of the rat brain.

: The effect of mazindol on feeding behaviour was investigated in rats fasted for 24 hours. They were then given mazindol i.p. and placed in a new environment. The effect of the drug on the disappearance of 3H-noradrenaline (3H-NA) from various parts of the brain after injection into the cerebral ventricles was also investigated. Mazindol was more potent in suppressing feeding behaviour than in reducing food intake, indicating that a number of aspects of feeding behaviour may be more sensitive indices of the anorectic effect of a drug than food intake per se. Mazindol, in a dose of 30 mg/kg, accelerated the disappearance of 3H-NA from the medial hypothalamus but not from other areas of the brain, suggesting that the drug has a locus-specific action on cerebral noradrenaline metabolism.