Administration of the glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists GLP-1 and exendin-4 (Ex-4) directly into the central nervous system decreases food intake. But although Ex-4 potently suppresses food intake after peripheral administration, the effects of parenteral GLP-1 are variable and not as strong. A plausible explanation for these effects is the rapid inactivation of circulating GLP-1 by dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4), an enzyme that does not alter Ex-4 activity. To test this hypothesis, we assessed the relative potency of Ex-4 and GLP-1 under conditions in which DPP-4 activity was reduced. Outbred rats, wild-type mice, and mice with a targeted deletion of DPP-4 (Dpp4 Ϫ/Ϫ ) were treated with GLP-1 alone or in combination with the DPP-4 inhibitor vildagliptin, Ex-4, or saline, and food intake was measured. GLP-1 alone, even at high doses, did not affect feeding in wild-type mice or rats but did reduce food intake when combined with vildagliptin or given to Dpp4 Ϫ/Ϫ mice. Despite plasma clearance similar to DPP-4-protected GLP-1, equimolar Ex-4 caused greater anorexia than vildagliptin plus GLP-1. To determine whether supraphysiological levels of endogenous GLP-1 would suppress food intake if protected from DPP-4, rats with Rouxen-Y gastric bypass and significantly elevated postprandial plasma GLP-1 received vildagliptin or saline. Despite 5-fold greater postprandial GLP-1 in these animals, vildagliptin did not affect food intake in Roux-en-Y gastric bypass rats. Thus, in both mice and rats, peripheral GLP-1 reduces food intake significantly less than Ex-4, even when protected from DPP-4. These findings suggest distinct potencies of GLP-1 receptor agonists on food intake that cannot be explained by plasma pharmacokinetics. (Endocrinology 153: 5735-5745, 2012) G lucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) is secreted from L cells in the ileum and colon during meal ingestion and is essential for normal glucose tolerance (1, 2). The finding that GLP-1 potently lowers blood glucose in type 2 diabetic subjects has launched a broad effort to harness the GLP-1 signaling system for therapeutic use. Because circulating GLP-1 is rapidly inactivated in vivo by the serine protease dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) (3-5), alternative strategies for targeting the GLP-1 system have been developed, agonists that are resistant to DPP-4 (6) and DPP-4 inhibitors that prolong the circulating half-life of endogenous GLP-1 (7). These approaches have been effective, and several new compounds are now available to treat patients with type 2 diabetes (8, 9).In addition to a role in the regulation of blood glucose, GLP-1 also affects feeding behavior in rodents and humans (10 -12). The GLP-1r is expressed in brain areas involved in the control of food intake, including the hypothalamus and the caudal brainstem (13,14), and ad-