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TASTE DISCRIMINATION LEARNING IN PREWEANLING RATS
Citation:
Stanton, M. AND M. Nicolle. TASTE DISCRIMINATION LEARNING IN PREWEANLING RATS. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/J-90/127 (NTIS PB91109660), 1990.
Description:
Seventeen-day-old rat pups received intraoral infusions of two novel flavors, coffee (.625% w/v Sanka, decaffeinated) and saccharin (.5% w/v), of which one (CS+) was paired with a .75X body weight, i.p. injection of 0.4 M LiCl, and the other (CS-) was presented alone. n the following day, two more infusion tests were conducted to determine Intake of each flavor. ntake of the CS+ flavor was markedly suppressed relative to that of the CS- flavor, although the magnitude of this effect depended on which flavor was designated CS+ and on the order in which CS+ and CS- were presented on the test day. hese results indicate that preweanling rats are capable of discriminative taste aversion learning. his simple conditioning procedure should provide a useful method for studying the sensory development of the gustatory system and/or the developmental psychobiology of learning and memory.