Conditioned taste aversions and changes in motor activity in lithium-treated rats. Mediating role of the area postrema.
The role of the area postrema in mediating taste aversions conditioned with the administration of lithium was examined in experiment 1. Rats with lesions of the area postrema or with sham lesions were given pairings of a novel taste with either intraperitoneally or intragastrically administered lithium chloride (LiCl; 10 mg/kg of a 0.15 M solution of lithium chloride) or a similar concentration of NaCl (control groups). Sham-lesioned rats exhibited strong taste aversions when lithium was used for the conditioning procedure and given intraperitoneally or intragastrically (P less than 0.01). Rats with lesions of the area postrema failed to develop taste aversions after the administration of lithium by either route. In experiment 2, rats with lesions of the area postrema and rats with sham lesions were given 30 min access to a 0.12 M solution of NaCl and 2 days later to a 0.12 M solution of lithium. The sham-lesioned animals drank less lithium than NaCl (P less than 0.02) and exhibited depressions in levels of activity following the ingestion of lithium. Rats with lesions of the area postrema drank more lithium than the sham-lesioned rats (P less than 0.01) and did not show behavioral depression after the ingestion of lithium. These data suggest that in the absence of the chemically-sensitive area postrema intragastrically administered lithium does not produce conditioned taste aversions or depression of activity in rats.
D000818:Animals; D001362:Avoidance Learning / Q000187:drug effects*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002415:Cats; D002945:Cisplatin / Q000494:pharmacology; D003214:Conditioning, Classical / Q000187:drug effects; D008094:Lithium / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008297:Male; D008526:Medulla Oblongata / Q000187:drug effects*; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000187:drug effects*; D009490:Neurosecretory Systems / Q000187:drug effects*; D051381:Rats; D013649:Taste / Q000187:drug effects*
D008094:Lithium; D002945:Cisplatin