Abstract
A 24 year-old housewife with a metastatic epipharyngeal carcinoma and a 45 year-old housewife of post-traumatic hypothalamic obesity were studied especially on the relationship between morphological changes and function in the hypothalamus.
1) Diabetes insipidus is not represented by surviving nerve cells of the supraoptic nucleus in the hypothalamus, while the median eminence and hypophyseal stalk are almost destroyed. However, when the nerve cells of the supraoptic nucleus, median eminence and hypophyseal stalk are completely destroyed, permanent severe diabetes insipidus appears, even if more than 50% of the anterior pituitary is damaged.
2) A voracious appetite, by which diabetes insipidus does not represent, appears by the complete destruction of both ventromedial nucleus in the hypothalamus, but does not appear by destruction of the half of the both nucleus.
3) Obesity can arise from the complete destruction of the ventromedial nucleus in the hypothalamus, and also seen by the destruction of the half of the nucleus.
