ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the nuclei of the solitary tract (NTS) play a crucial role in control of glycemia, but electrical or chemical excitation of several other central structures also changes blood glucose concentration. By the middle of the last century Claude Bernard made the landmark discovery that the liver produces glucose and keeps glycemia almost constant in normal conditions. The search for the mechanisms involved in the increase of blood glucose concentration promoted by puncture of the fourth ventricle finally led to the discovery that the hypothalamus and other brain regions are involved in regulation of processes that aim at maintaining glycemia within its normal concentration range. Temporary hyperglycemia can be induced by transections of the brain stem at various levels. The different intensity and time course of hyperglycemia resulting from either full transection or localized puncture of the brain stem is probably due to the extension of the lesion provoked by transecting procedures.
