LSD produces place preference and flavor avoidance but does not produce flavor aversion in rats.

The hedonic properties of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) were assessed using the place conditioning, taste reactivity, and taste avoidance tests. LSD produced a conditioned place preference, but only at the highest dose tested (0.2 mg/kg). A single preexposure to the conditioning chamber (latent inhibition) prevented the establishment of a place preference. When paired with sucrose, doses of 0.05 to 0.2 mg/kg of LSD produced taste avoidance, but no dose of LSD produced an aversion to the taste as assessed by the taste reactivity test. These results suggest that LSD, like other rewarding drugs, produces taste avoidance by a mechanism other than that produced by emetic drugs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

THC-induced place and taste aversions in Lewis and Sprague-Dawley rats.

The hedonic properties of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) were assessed in place and taste conditioning paradigms in both Lewis and Sprague-Dawley rat strains. THC produced place avoidance, taste avoidance, and aversive taste reactivity responses in both strains. The Lewis strain displayed more aversive taste reactions and a stronger taste avoidance when conditioned with lower doses of THC than did the Sprague-Dawley strain of rats. THC is an anomalous drug of abuse that appears to be aversive to rats when assessed by these measures. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Amphetamine and morphine produce a conditioned taste and place preference in the house musk shrew (Suncus murinus).

Rats have been shown to avoid consuming a flavor, but prefer a location, previously paired with amphetamine or morphine. A series of 4 experiments evaluated the hedonic properties of amphetamine and morphine in the house musk shrew (Suncus murinus), an insectivore that (unlike rats) is capable of vomiting when exposed to toxins. Unlike rats, amphetamine (20 mg/kg) and morphine (20 mg/kg) produced both a conditioned sucrose (0.3 M) and saccharin (0.1%) preference in shrews (administered intraperitoneally), when measured by both a 1-and a 2-bottle test. At the same dose, both drugs also produced a place preference in shrews. These results suggest that the potential of rewarding drugs to produce taste avoidance may vary on the basis of the ability of the species to vomit. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gustatory insular cortex lesions disrupt drug-induced, but not lithium chloride-induced, suppression of conditioned stimulus intake.

Rats suppress intake of a normally preferred 0.15% saccharin conditioned stimulus (CS) when it is paired with an aversive agent like lithium chloride (LiCl) or a preferred substance such as sucrose or a drug of abuse. The reward comparison hypothesis suggests that rats avoid intake of a saccharin cue following pairings with a drug of abuse because the rats are anticipating the availability of the rewarding properties of the drug. The present study used bilateral ibotenic acid lesions to examine the role of the gustatory cortex in the suppression of CS intake induced by cocaine, morphine, and LiCl. The results show that bilateral lesions of the insular gustatory cortex (1) fully prevent the suppressive effects of both a 15 and a 30 mg/kg dose of morphine, (2) attenuate the suppressive effect of a 10 mg/kg dose of cocaine, but (3) are overridden by a 20 mg/kg dose of the drug. Finally, these same cortical lesions had no impact on LiCl-induced conditioned taste aversion. The current data show that the insular taste cortex plays an integral role in drug-induced avoidance of a gustatory CS. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dissociating the conditioning and the anorectic effects of estradiol in female rats.

The present series of experiments challenges the ability of the hormone estradiol to act as an unconditioned stimulus in the conditioned taste avoidance (CTA) learning paradigm. We hypothesize that reductions in sucrose consumption observed after pairing it with estradiol are not indicative of associative learning, but due to the unconditioned expression of estradiol’s anorectic effects during the time of CTA assessment. Three experiments in which a sucrose solution was paired with estradiol were conducted to test this hypothesis. Experiment 1 demonstrated that female rats expressed a reduction in post-pairing sucrose consumption even though the anorectic effects of estradiol had subsided. Experiment 2 showed that although a low dose of estradiol produced anorexia, it did not elicit post-pairing reductions in sucrose consumption. Experiment 3 revealed that contingent pairing was a requirement for post-pairing reduction in sucrose consumption even when testing was done at a time when anorexia is expressed. These findings demonstrate the dissociability of the conditioning and anorectic effects of estradiol, providing evidence against the hypothesis. The results are discussed in terms of independent neural mechanisms underlying the disparate behaviors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of basolateral amygdala lesions on taste aversions produced by lactose and lithium chloride in the rat.

In Exp I, 24 intact male Lister rats were given either lactose or sucrose solutions. Although on 1st exposure they readily consumed lactose, its ingestion produced a conditioned taste avoidance (CTA) that was partly extinguished by repeated sucrose exposure after lactose conditioning. In Exp II, 8 Ss with large bilateral electrolytic lesions of the basolateral amygdala and 10 with either sham or no operations were given 2 pairings of saline with LiCl injections (upper gastrointestinal tract discomfort) and, in a separate condition, access to high levels of lactose (lower gastrointestinal tract discomfort). CTAs were measured both by 2-bottle tests and by video recordings of orofacial and somatic responses. The lesions attenuated LiCl-induced but not lactose-induced CTA, results demonstrating that a CTA can occur without the basolateral amygdala. Findings suggest that aversions based on distaste can be distinguished from avoidances based on danger, not only in terms of orofacial responses but also in terms of their neuroanatomical substrate. (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Morphine enhancement of sucrose palatability: analysis by the taste reactivity test

The ability of morphine to modify sucrose palatability was assessed by the taste reactivity test. In Experiment 1, rats were injected with morphine (0.0, 0.5, 2.0, and 10.0 mg/kg, subcutaneously), 30 min before receiving a 10-min intraoral infusion of 2% or 20% sucrose solution. A dose of 2.0 mg/kg morphine enhanced ingestive reactions elicited by both concentrations of sucrose solution. In Experiment 2, the interval between morphine pretreatment and the taste reactivity test was manipulated. Rats given 2.0 mg/kg morphine 30 or 120 min before testing displayed enhanced ingestive reactions elicited by 20% sucrose solution during the first 5 min of a 10-min test. The results support the hypothesis that morphine enhances the hedonic assessment of sucrose solution.     

Conditioned nausea in rats: Assessment by conditioned disgust reactions, rather than conditioned taste avoidance.

The terms conditioned taste avoidance and conditioned taste aversion are often used interchangeably in the literature; however, considerable evidence indicates that they may represent different processes. Conditioned taste avoidance is measured by the amount that a rat drinks in a consumption test that includes both appetitive phases and consummatory phases of responding. However, conditioned taste aversion is more directly assessed using the taste reactivity (TR) test that includes only the consummatory phase of responding. Rats display a conditioned taste aversion as conditioned disgust reactions (gapes, chin rubs, and paw treads) during an intraoral infusion of a nausea-paired flavored solution. Only treatments that produce nausea produce conditioned disgust reactions, but even rewarding drugs produce conditioned taste avoidance. Furthermore, treatments that alleviate nausea prevent the establishment and the expression of conditioned disgust reactions, but they do not necessarily modify conditioned taste avoidance. Considerable evidence exists indicating that these two measures can be independent of one another. The potential of a compound to produce conditioned disgust reactions is a reflection of its nausea-inducing properties. Taste avoidance may be motivated by conditioned fear rather than conditioned nausea, but conditioned disgust is motivated by conditioned nausea. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conditioned taste aversions and drugs of abuse: A reinterpretation.

A new hypothesis (and supporting data) provides a solution to the 25-yr-old paradox whereby positively reinforcing drugs of abuse also support a conditioned taste aversion (CTA). The results show that unlike LiCl-induced CTAs, morphine- and cocaine-induced suppression of conditioned stimulus (CS) intake depends on the rewarding properties of the gustatory CS. This finding argues against the long-standing CTA interpretation in favor of a new reward comparison account. That is, rats decrease intake of a gustatory CS following taste–drug pairings because the value of the CS is outweighed by that of a highly reinforcing psychoactive drug. Suppression of CS intake, then, is a consequence of the well-documented positive reinforcing, rather than the hypothetical aversive, properties of drugs of abuse. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of conditioning method and testing method on strength of lithium-induced taste aversion learning.

Here the authors evaluated the effect of the method of conditioning (bottle or intraoral [IO] infusion) on the strength of a flavor-drug association when measured in a standard 1-bottle consumption test or when measured by IO infusion in a taste reactivity test. When tested with the bottle test in Experiment 1, rats conditioned by bottle displayed stronger taste avoidance than those conditioned by IO infusion. When tested for rejection reactions with the taste reactivity test in Experiment 2, rats conditioned by infusion displayed a stronger aversion than did rats conditioned by bottle. The results suggest that when the contextual cues of conditioning are similar at conditioning and testing, a stronger association is evident regardless of the individual specifics of each method. These results may shed light on recent reports that different neural mechanisms are involved in conditioning by active consumption and passive infusion. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gustatory detection thresholds after parabrachial nuclei lesions in rats.

Rats with either electrolytic (Experiment 1) or excitotoxic lesions (Experiment 2) that had been electrophysiologically centered in the gustatory zone of the parabrachial nuclei (PBN) were tested for sucrose and NaCl taste detection thresholds in a conditioned avoidance task. With 1 exception, all of these rats had previously shown severe deficits in acquiring an LiCl-based conditioned taste aversion (CTA) to sucrose, NaCl, or alanine. The rats with excitotoxic lesions also had failed to express a depletion-induced sodium appetite. Despite the uniformity of these deficits, the rats with lesions exhibited varied performance in the detectability task. Roughly ? of the rats did not perform competently, ? had elevated thresholds, and ? showed no or only marginal impairments in taste detectability. These findings demonstrate that the elimination of CTA following PBN lesions is not necessarily linked to an impairment in taste signal detection. Thus, PBN-induced deficits on 1 taste-related task do not entirely correspond with impairments on another. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The suppressive effects of sucrose and cocaine, but not lithium chloride, are greater in Lewis than in Fischer rats: Evidence for the reward comparison hypothesis.

Rats suppress intake of a saccharin conditioned stimulus (CS) when it is paired with an aversive unconditioned stimulus (UCS), an appetitive UCS, or a drug of abuse such as morphine or cocaine. It is unclear, however, whether the reduction in intake induced by these drugs is mediated by their aversive or their rewarding properties. The present set of experiments addressed this question by comparing the suppressive effects of a known aversive UCS (LiCl), a known reinforcing UCS (sucrose), and a drug of abuse (cocaine) in two strains of rats (i.e., Lewis and Fischer 344 rats) that differ in their preference for rewarding stimuli. The results show that, although both strains readily acquired a LiCl-induced conditioned taste aversion (CTA), the suppressive effects of sucrose and cocaine were robust in the drug-preferring Lewis rats and absent in the Fischer rats. These data argue against a CTA account and in favor of the reward comparison hypothesis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ontogenetic changes in the modulation of taste aversion learning by home environmental cues in rats.

Conducted 3 experiments using 611 Sprague-Dawley rats to define and analyze an age-related phenomenon of conditioned taste aversion. When consumption of sucrose solution was followed by LiCl-induced illness in Ss' home, acquisition of the aversion to sucrose solution was retarded in preweanling (18-day-old) Ss. This effect was not found in adults or in 21-day-old Ss. Place of testing had no effect in the younger 2 age-groups, but in adults manifestation of the acquired aversion was retarded when they were tested in the home. There was no interaction between place of conditioning and testing for any age. The locus of the environmental influence on conditioning in preweanling Ss was found to be the place of tasting rather than place of illness, retention interval, or testing. Also, the effect was found to be invariant under minor variations in familiarization of Ss with the nonhome environment. The principle emerging from these data and others is that the home environment can have a significant influence on learning and conditioning in the immature rat. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Context dependency of conditioned aversions to water and sweet tastes.

Three experiments exposed rats (Rattus norvegicus) to a discriminative conditioning procedure whereby a specific fluid was followed by lithium in one environment but not in another. This produced context-specific aversion to water, as detected by 2-bottle tests in Experiment 1, and a context-dependent saccharin aversion, which was unaffected by context extinction, in Experiment 2. Experiment 3 found that sucrose preexposure increased contextual control over the aversion established by sucrose-lithium pairings but had no effect on the target context. By contrast, target context exposure during conditioning reduced aversion to this context but did not affect contextual control of the sucrose aversion. In conclusion, depending on the conditioning procedures, contextual control of a taste aversion can be independent of the context's Pavlovian properties. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The antiemetic drug ondansetron intereferes with lithium-induced conditioned rejection reactions, but not lithium induced taste avoidance in rats.

Conditioned rejection reactions displayed in the taste reactivity test are exclusively produced by treatments that elicit nausea. The present experiments demonstrate that pretreatment with the antinausea agent ondansetron interferes with both the establishment and the expression of conditioned rejection reactions. Ondansetron did not interfere with lithium-induced taste avoidance in either a 1-bottle or a 2-bottle test. In fact, when rejection reactions were measured during a consumption test, ondansetron selectively attenuated rejection reactions, with only a slight modification of consumption. These results suggest that conditioned rejection reactions, but not conditioned taste avoidance, reflect nausea in rats that can be attenuated by ondansetron pretreatment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Alcohol aversion generalization in rats: Specific disruption of taste and odor cues with gustatory neocortex or olfactory bulb ablations.

Rats with ablations of the gustatory neocortex (Experiment 1) and rats with olfactory bulb ablations (Experiment 2) were compared with normal rats for aversion generalization to both single taste solutions (sucrose, sodium chloride, quinine hydrochloride, hydrochloric acid) and compound taste solutions (pairs of the four single tastants) following alcohol aversion training. All rats acquired equal and strong alcohol aversions. Control rats showed consistent aversion generalization to both the sucrose plus quinine and the sucrose plus hydrochloric acid solutions; no significant generalization occurred to the single tastants except a weak generalization to sucrose in Experiment 2. Rats with gustatory neocortical ablations failed to show aversion generalization to any of the taste solutions. Rats with olfactory bulbectomies displayed the same aversion generalization functions as control rats but exhibited significantly faster extinction of the alcohol aversion than did the trained control rats. Results from the present experiments suggest that during alcohol aversion learning, rats lacking gustatory neocortex use odor cues (no taste generalization), whereas rats lacking olfactory bulbs utilize taste cues (normal taste generalization). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Altering dietary levels of protein or vitamins and minerals does not modify morphine-induced analgesia in male rats

Previous research has demonstrated that chronic intake of nutritive sweet solutions, but not nonnutritive sweet solutions, enhances morphine's analgesic potency. To separate out the effects of sweet taste from other changes in dietary intake, which result when rats consume a sucrose solution, the effects of altering dietary levels of protein, or vitamins and minerals on morphine-induced analgesia were examined. In Experiment 1, 40 male Long-Evans rats were fed standard chow or a semipurified diet containing either 10, 20, or 40% protein. Three weeks later, antinociceptive responses to morphine were examined using the tail flick procedure. Tail flick latencies were measured immediately prior to and 30, 60, and 90 min after the administration of morphine sulfate (0.0, 1.25, 2.5, and 5.0 mg/kg, SC). At all three measurement times, antinociceptive responses increased directly as a function of the dose of morphine, but did not differ as a function of diet. In Experiment 2, 24 rats were maintained on either standard laboratory chow or semipurified diets containing 20% protein and either 100% or 25% of the recommended levels of vitamins and minerals for 3 weeks. Tail flick latencies were measured immediately prior to and 30 min after injections (SC) of 2.5 mg/kg morphine sulfate. This procedure was repeated until a cumulative dose of 10.0 mg/kg was obtained. Tail flick latencies increased significantly as a function of drug dose, but did not differ across dietary conditions. These results demonstrate that the increase in morphine-induced analgesia seen in rats consuming a sucrose solution is not due to alterations in either protein or micronutrient intake.     

Negative anticipatory contrast and preference conditioning: Flavor cues support preference conditioning, and environmental cues support contrast.

In 2 experiments, access to a .15% saccharin solution was followed on alternating days by access to a 32% sucrose solution and the same saccharin solution. In Exp 1, rats increased both intake of and preference for a flavored saccharin solution that predicted sucrose, but neither effect was found using a predictive odor cue alone. Exp 2 replicated the predictive flavor results but showed suppression of saccharin intake when environmental cues predicted sucrose. When both flavor and environment predicted sucrose, saccharin intake did not change, but preference for the predictive flavor increased. Discriminative taste cues appear to facilitate the development of preference conditioning, but environmental cues favor negative anticipatory contrast effects. Also, preference conditioning and contrast may develop concurrently and compete for expression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The state of the reward comparison hypothesis: Theoretical comment on Huang and Hsiao (2008).

Rats avoid intake of a gustatory cue following pairings with a drug of abuse, such as morphine or cocaine. Despite the well-established rewarding properties of these drugs, the reduction in intake of the taste cue has been interpreted as a conditioned taste aversion for decades. In 1997, I proposed the reward comparison hypothesis suggesting that rats avoided intake of the drug-associated taste cue because the value of the taste cue pales in comparison to the highly rewarding drug of abuse expected in the near future. In this issue of Behavioral Neuroscience, A. C. W. Huang and S. Hsiao (see record 2008-17011-002) challenge the reward comparison hypothesis by showing parallels between amphetamine and LiCl-induced suppression of CS intake. This commentary addresses the current state of the reward comparison hypothesis in the context of the experiments completed by Huang and Hsiao and their new task-dependent drug effects hypothesis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Taste preconditioning augments odor-aversion learning.

On the basis of previous work that has shown a taste can potentiate odor-aversion conditioning in AX+ conditioning, 6 experiments used rats to examine the effects of pairing a preconditioned taste (A) with a novel odor cue (X) in an A+/AX+ aversion conditioning design. Experiments 1A and 1B demonstrated that a preconditioned taste produced a robust odor aversion that was significantly stronger than a potentiated odor aversion. The results of Experiment 2 showed that the robust odor aversion produced by A+/AX+ conditioning was not the result of the potentiated odor aversion summating with generalization from the taste aversion. The augmented odor aversion was produced only when the taste and odor stimuli were presented simultaneously (Experiment 3) and the preconditioned taste aversion was intact at compound conditioning (Experiment 4). Pairing a novel odor with a preconditioned taste was not sufficient to condition an aversion to odor (Experiment 5), although other results implicated a role for an association between odor and taste in the odor augmentation effect (Experiment 6). The present results have implications for current models of taste + odor interactions in flavor-aversion conditioning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)