Taste-dependent sociophobia: when food and company do not mix.
Using a combination of the paradigm of conditioned taste aversion (CTA) and of the paradigm of social interactions, we report here that in the rat, eating while anxious may result in long-term alterations in social behavior. In the conventional CTA, the subject learns to associate a tastant (the conditioned stimulus, CS) with delayed toxicosis (an unconditioned stimulus, UCS) to yield taste aversion (the conditioned response, CR). However, the association of taste with delayed negative internal states that could generate CRs that are different from taste aversion should not be neglected. Such associations may contribute to the ontogenesis, reinforcement and symptoms of some types of taste- and food-related disorders. We have recently reported that a delayed anxiety-like state, induced by the anxiogenic drug meta-chlorophenylpiperazine (mCPP), can specifically associate with taste to produce CTA. We now show that a similar protocol results in a marked lingering impairment in social interactions in response to the conditioned taste. This is hence a learned situation in which food and company do not mix well.
Guitton
Matthieu J
MJ
Department of Neurobiology, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel. matthieu.guitton@pha.ulaval.ca
Klin
Yael
Y
Dudai
Yadin
Y
D000818:Animals; D018692:Antimanic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage; D001362:Avoidance Learning / Q000502:physiology; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000187:drug effects; D003214:Conditioning, Classical / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D005502:Food; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D016014:Linear Models; D018021:Lithium Chloride / Q000008:administration & dosage; D010698:Phobic Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D010879:Piperazines / Q000009:adverse effects; D051381:Rats; D017366:Serotonin Receptor Agonists / Q000009:adverse effects; D013649:Taste
D018692:Antimanic Agents; D010879:Piperazines; D017366:Serotonin Receptor Agonists; D018021:Lithium Chloride; C015068:1-(3-chlorophenyl)piperazine