A role for taste aversion learning in FLA-57 induced reductions of voluntary alcohol intake.
It has been proposed by Amit, Brown and colleagues that the reduction in voluntary alcohol intake observed after the administration of FLA-57 in rats can be attributed to decreased NE levels produced by FLA-57. Our studies investigated whether a conditioned taste aversion could better explain this phenomenon. In the key study, two groups of rats were injected with FLA-57 or Ringers before drinking alcohol for five days, while a third group was injected with FLA-57 before exposure to intragastrically intubated (untasted) alcohol in amounts identical to those in the tasted group. Results showed that only the FLA-57 group that tasted alcohol reduced subsequent voluntary alcohol intake. When a CTA was precluded, allowing only for an effect due to reduced NE, no reduction was observed. This suggests that FLA-57 reduces VAI, not via reduced NE levels, but by a conditioned taste aversion. A second study, utilizing saccharin instead of alcohol, generally supported this conclusion. While these results support a CTA explanation, it is possible that under other conditions FLA-57 might produce a central pharmacological effect.
D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000187:drug effects*; D000818:Animals; D001362:Avoidance Learning; D001381:Azepines / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology; D003214:Conditioning, Classical; D008297:Male; D009638:Norepinephrine / Q000502:physiology; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D012439:Saccharin; D013649:Taste
D001381:Azepines; C015590:4-methyl-1-homopiperazinedithiocarboxylic acid; D012439:Saccharin; D009638:Norepinephrine