Female rats show a bimodal preference response to the artificial sweetener sucralose.
The preference of female Sprague-Dawley rats for sucralose, a non-nutritive sweetener derived from sucrose, was evaluated in 23 h two-bottle tests with water or saccharin. Overall, the rats displayed weak or no preferences for sucralose (0.25-4 g/l) over water but strong preferences for saccharin (0.5-8 g/l) over water and saccharin (1 g/l) over sucralose (0.5 g/l). The rats also preferred a saccharin + sucrose mixture to sucrose, but sucrose to a sucralose + sucrose mixture. There were marked individual differences in sucralose preferences: about half the rats preferred sucralose to water at some concentrations while most remaining rats avoided sucralose. Both subgroups preferred saccharin to sucralose. Sucralose appears to have an aversive off-taste that reduces its palatability to rats.
Department of Psychology, Brooklyn College of CUNY, 2900 Bedford Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11210, USA. asclafani@gc.cuny.edu
Anthony
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Sclafani
Richard A
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Clare
D000818:Animals; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005260:Female; D005518:Food Preferences / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012439:Saccharin / Q000494:pharmacology; D013395:Sucrose / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000494:pharmacology; D013549:Sweetening Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D013649:Taste
D013549:Sweetening Agents; D013395:Sucrose; C026285:trichlorosucrose; D012439:Saccharin