Sodium depletion enhances salt palatability in rats.

Stereotyped fixed action patterns (FAPs) elicited in rats by oral infusions of taste solutions can be classified as either ingestive or aversive. They reflect the palatability of the taste and can be modified by learning and by the physiological state of the animal. The present 2 experiments, with 5 male Sprague-Dawley rats, demonstrated that when the physiological state of the S was altered by sodium depletion, the pattern of FAPs elicited by oral infusions of 0.5 M NaCl shifted from a mixture of ingestive and aversive components (while sodium replete) to exclusively ingestive ones (while sodium deplete). This shift in taste reactivity occurred the 1st time the Ss were made sodium deplete. A similar shift did not accompany infusions of 0.01 M HCl, a taste solution that also elicited mixed ingestive and aversive FAPs. This result suggests that the shift in response to NaCl was not due to a general change in ingestive bias or to a general taste deficit. On the basis of the change in FAPs, it is concluded that the palatability of highly concentrated salt solutions increases in sodium-deplete rats. Such a shift in salt palatability may be instrumental in directing the appetitive behavior of the animal. (33 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)