Taste detection and discrimination performance of rats following selective desalivation.
Taste sensitivity and responsivity, two-tastant and taste-mixture discrimination performance, and taste preferences were examined prior to and after the selective desalivation of 48 male Long-Evans rats. Altered preference behavior was observed in rats after removal of the major salivary glands, as well as after removal of only the submandibular-sublingual complexes. In 9 of 12 desalivated rats, decreased sensitivity and increased responsivity to near-threshold sodium chloride solutions were observed, although these changes were less than one-half an order of magnitude. No between-group differences in performance on two-tastant and taste-mixture discrimination tasks were observed. These results suggest that decrements in absolute sensitivity do not result in concomitant deficits in the discrimination of taste qualities.
Brosvic
G M
GM
Department of Psychology, Rider College, Lawrenceville, NJ 08648-3099.
Hoey
N E
NE
D000818:Animals; D004193:Discrimination Learning / Q000502:physiology; D005518:Food Preferences / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D012463:Saliva / Q000502:physiology*; D013649:Taste / Q000502:physiology*; D013652:Taste Threshold / Q000502:physiology*