title: Effect of prior exposure to a lithium- and an amphetamine-paired flavor on the acoustic startle response in rats.
abstract: The experiments reported here evaluated the hypothesis that an amphetamine-paired flavor elicits conditioned fear-arousal, whereas a lithium-paired flavor elicits conditioned nausea-disgust by examining the effect of prior flavor exposure on an acoustic startle reaction (ASR). Exposure to a lithium-paired flavor by intraoral infusion, either immediately prior to a startle session (Experiment 1) or during a startle session (Experiments 2 and 3), resulted in a blunted ASR. In contrast, intraoral infusion of an amphetamine-paired flavor resulted in a potentiated ASR. The blunted ASR produced by exposure to a lithium-paired flavor dramatically reversed to a potentiated ASR when rats were pretreated with the antiemetic drug ondansetron prior to the saccharin-lithium pairing (Experiment 3). The findings shed light on a mechanism by which rewarding drugs produce conditioned taste avoidance in rats.
authors.affiliation: Department of PsychologyWilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Shadna A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Rana
authors.forename: Linda A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Parker
mesh_terms: D000661:Amphetamine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000818:Animals; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000697:Central Nervous System Stimulants / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology*; D016651:Lithium Carbonate / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008297:Male; D009622:Noise; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013216:Reflex, Startle / Q000187:drug effects*; D013649:Taste
chemical_list: D014150:Antipsychotic Agents; D000697:Central Nervous System Stimulants; D016651:Lithium Carbonate; D000661:Amphetamine