Neurokinin A selectively inhibits water intake in the rat.

The results of the present study show that the intracerebroventricular injection of neurokinin A elicited a selective antidipsogenic effect in the rat. Neurokinin A proved to be an extremely potent inhibitor of drinking elicited by subcutaneous administration of hypertonic NaCl, and produced also a statistically-significant inhibition of food-associated drinking. On the other hand, it did not affect drinking evoked by other dipsogenic determinants, such as water deprivation and intracerebroventricular injection of carbachol or of angiotensin II. Thus, neurokinin A shows a spectrum of antidipsogenic activity clearly different from that of substance P, the other mammalian tachykinin so far tested on drinking behaviour in the rat, which appears to be a non-selective antidipsogenic agent. The findings of the present study suggest that different tachykinins, endogenous to the brain of the rat, might subserve distinct roles in the control of drinking behaviour.