The injection of a melanocortin peptide or of melanocortin peptide analogues into the
cerebrospinal fluid or into the ventromedial hypothalamus in nanomolar or subnanomolar
doses induces a long-lasting inhibition of food intake. The effect keeps significant for up to 9
h and has been observed in all animal species so far tested, the most susceptible being the
rabbit. The anorectic effect of these peptides is a primary one, not secondary to the shift
towards other components of the complex melanocortin-induced behavioral syndrome, in …