title: Conditioned enhancement of flavor evaluation reinforced by intragastric glucose. II. Taste reactivity analysis.
abstract: Rats learn to prefer a flavor that is paired with intragastric (IG) glucose infusion, which may represent a learned shift in the hedonic evaluation or palatability of the flavor. The present study used the taste reactivity (TR) test to infer nutrient-conditioned changes in flavor palatability. Rats were first conditioned in 20-h/day and then 30-min/day sessions to associate a flavored saccharin solution (the CS+) with IG infusions of 16% glucose, and a different flavored saccharin solution (the CS-) with IG water infusions. They strongly preferred the CS+ to the CS- in two-bottle intake tests. When next tested with brief intraoral (IO) infusions of the CS flavors, the rats exhibited significantly more hedonic TR responses to the CS+ flavor than the CS- flavor, which indicates an enhanced hedonic evaluation. A subsequent series of two-bottle tests established that the CS- flavor was equally preferred to 3% fructose, whereas the CS+ flavor was equally preferred to 16% fructose. In addition, the difference between the TR responses to 3% and 16% fructose paralleled the difference between the TR responses to CS- and CS+. These findings support the idea that pairing flavored saccharin with the postingestive effects of glucose produces a learned shift in palatability comparable to that produced by increasing the concentration of a sugar solution.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, Brooklyn, NY 11210-2889, USA.
authors.forename: K P
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: Myers
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sclafani
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001245:Association Learning; D003214:Conditioning, Classical; D004326:Drinking; D005260:Female; D005518:Food Preferences / Q000523:psychology*; D005632:Fructose / Q000008:administration & dosage; D005950:Glucose Solution, Hypertonic / Q000008:administration & dosage; D009042:Motivation; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012528:Satiety Response; D013649:Taste
chemical_list: D005950:Glucose Solution, Hypertonic; D005632:Fructose