title: Cyclic AMP tastes aversive, not sweet, to rats.
abstract: Electrophysiological and biochemical evidence suggests that cAMP mediates sweet taste transduction. Neural recordings from anesthetized rats and in vitro preparations demonstrate that membrane-per-meable cAMP analogues mimic the effects of sucrose and artificial sweetners. We presented solutions of sodium 8-(4-chlorophenylthio)-adenosine 3'-5'-cyclic monophosphate (8cpt-cAMP), a water-soluble, membrane-permeable cAMP analogue to freely behaving rats in short-term lickometer tests. Rats licked significantly less to 8cpt-cAMP than to sucrose or palatable saccharin solutions. Rats could taste 8cpt-cAMP solutions, however, because they licked less to 8cpt-cAMP in mixture with sucrose than to sucrose alone. Because 8cpt-cAMP decreased licking when mixed with sucrose, we conclude that the taste of 8cpt-cAMP is aversive, not sweet, to freely behaving rats.
authors.affiliation: E. W. Bourne Behavioral Research Laboratory, Department of Psychiatry, Cornell University Medical College, White Plains, NY 10605, USA.
authors.forename: T A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Houpt
authors.forename: S P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Frankmann
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Berlin
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001362:Avoidance Learning / Q000187:drug effects; D000242:Cyclic AMP / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000494:pharmacology; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012439:Saccharin / Q000494:pharmacology; D013395:Sucrose / Q000494:pharmacology; D013549:Sweetening Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D013649:Taste / Q000187:drug effects*; D013873:Thionucleotides / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D013549:Sweetening Agents; D013873:Thionucleotides; C015929:8-((4-chlorophenyl)thio)cyclic-3',5'-AMP; D013395:Sucrose; D000242:Cyclic AMP; D012439:Saccharin