For patients with a
craniopharyngioma (CP), treatment of hypothalamic
obesity (HO) and
hyperphagia following resection and/or
radiotherapy is extremely difficult and few reports have been published on potential
drug therapies. Psychomotor stimulant
methylphenidate (MPH) has been reported to inhibit food intake (FI). In this paper, we report reduction of body mass index (BMI) and appetite in an adolescent CP patient suffering from HO. We then tested the ability of MPH to attenuate the FI and
body weight (BW) gain in a rat model consistent with the neuroanatomical and metabolic disturbances commonly observed in obese CP patients. Specifically, we used a novel electrolytically generated combined medial hypothalamic lesion (
CMHL) affecting the arcuate nucleus, ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus, and dorsomedial hypothalamic nucleus to induce
hyperphagia, rapid
weight gain, and adiposity. Both
CMHL and control animals (n = 7 per group) were administered either
methylphenidate HCl (MPH; 20 mg kg(-1) day(-1)) or saline for 4 days in a crossover design experiment 28 weeks post-surgery. A significant decrease in percent baseline FI (
CMHL -23%, p = 0.008; control -20%, p = 0.002) and percent change in BW (
CMHL -1.97%/4 days, p = 0.011; control -1.75%/4 days, p = 0.003) was observed during MPH treatment as compared to saline.
CONCLUSION: