Chronic intraventricular (IVT) insulin infusion suppresses food intake and body weight in the baboon. It has been hypothesized that one mechanism of this action may be enhancement of the effectiveness of satiety factors that regulate meal size. This hypothesis was supported by prior demonstration of a shift in the meal-suppressive effectiveness of cholecystokinin octapeptide (CCK-8) which was given intravenously. The authors tested the effectiveness of a near threshold dose of CCK-8 (25 ng/kg) given via the lateral ventricles (IVT) prior to a 30-min meal, while baboons were chronically infused with cerebrospinal fluid or insulin (100 microU/day) via the lateral ventricles. IVT CCK-8 infusion resulted in meal size changes of -44 +/- 7% and -75 +/- 9% in the absence and presence of insulin, respectively; this was observed in each of the three animals studied. These results provide further support for the hypothesis that IVT insulin can interact with other, meal-regulatory, peptides.