Effects of number of pre-exposures on sucrose taste aversion in weanling rats.
Weanling rats, 20 days old, received 0, 1, 2, 4, or 8 pre-exposures to 12% sucrose prior to a single pairing of sucrose with an intraperitoneal injection of lithium chloride (LiCl; 3.0 mEq of a .15Msolution) or distilled water (20 mg/kg). Testing for sucrose taste aversion with a 2-bottle-choice procedure on 9 test trials reliably showed that increasing numbers of pre-exposures to sucrose directly attenuated taste aversion effects in the LiCl-injected groups but did not appreciably affect intake performance in the distilled water-injected groups. Comparisons between the injection conditions yielded reliable evidence for sucrose taste aversion at each pre-exposure level. These results show that flavor stimulus pre-exposures reliably attenuate subsequent taste aversion in weanling rats as had previously been reported for adult rats.
D000818:Animals; D001362:Avoidance Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D002712:Chlorides / Q000506:poisoning; D005260:Female; D005518:Food Preferences; D008094:Lithium / Q000506:poisoning; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D013395:Sucrose / Q000008:administration & dosage; D013649:Taste / Q000502:physiology*; D014886:Weaning
D002712:Chlorides; D013395:Sucrose; D008094:Lithium