Ontogeny of urine preference and its relationship to NH4Cl preference and sodium hunger in suckling rat pups.
We chart the postnatal ontogeny of urine preference in the suckling rat. Twelve-day-old sucklings, when offered urine, NH4Cl, or NaCl, ingest more urine and NH4Cl than NaCl. When rendered sodium hungry by ivc renin or by sodium depletion, these sucklings prefer urine and NH4Cl to NaCl, dilute urine, or an NaCl and KCl mineral mix equimolar to urine; however, by 18 days of age, urine and NH4Cl are no longer preferred to NaCl. Hence, urine preference in the suckling may be specific and preparatory for the variety of purposes urine preference serves in the adult rat, and it might guide the pup to urinary sodium in the nest. Since preference for urine and NH4Cl covary during postnatal development, the high preference for NH4Cl in midterm sucklings might be because its ammonium flavor is similar to urine.
Leshem
Micah
M
Psychology Department, University of Haifa, Haifa 31905, Israel. Micah.Leshem@psy.haifa.ac.il
del Canho
Sonia
S
D000643:Ammonium Chloride; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D002755:Choice Behavior; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012965:Sodium Chloride; D013391:Sucking Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D014556:Urine
D000643:Ammonium Chloride; D012965:Sodium Chloride