After two weeks habituation to capsaicinized food, rats prefer this to plain food.
In a first series of experiments rats were accustomed for two weeks to eat chow with capsaicin (250 micrograms: 1 g of food). After this habituation period, when free to choose, 3 rats out of 4 preferred eating the piquant chow. In a second series of experiments the rats had access to a choice of chows without any habituation period. In this series, the choice between piquant and nonpiquant chow showed that 4 rats out of 5 preferred to eat the chow without capsaicin. The present experiment shows that the piquant chow eaten by rats produced a fall in rectal temperature 48 h later. The present experiment provides some evidence that rats accustomed to eat piquant food manifested, when free to choose, a preference for an innately unpalatable piquant chow.
Dib
B
B
Université Claude Bernard, Laboratoire de Physiologie A, Faculté de Médecine Grange Blanche, Lyon, France.
D000818:Animals; D001831:Body Temperature / Q000187:drug effects; D001835:Body Weight / Q000187:drug effects; D002211:Capsaicin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004326:Drinking / Q000187:drug effects; D005518:Food Preferences / Q000187:drug effects*; D006185:Habituation, Psychophysiologic; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains
D002211:Capsaicin