title: Conditioned flavor avoidance and conditioned gaping: rat models of conditioned nausea.
abstract: Although rats are incapable of vomiting, they demonstrate profound avoidance of a flavor previously paired with an emetic drug. They also display conditioned gaping reactions during re-exposure to the flavor. This robust learning occurs in a single trial and with long delays (hours) between consumption of a novel flavor and the emetic treatment. However, conditioned flavor avoidance learning is not a selective measure of the emetic properties of drugs, because non-emetic treatments (even highly rewarding treatments) produce conditioned avoidance, and anti-emetic treatments are generally ineffective in suppressing conditioned avoidance produced by an emetic drug. On the other hand, conditioned gaping reactions are consistently produced by emetic drugs and are prevented by anti-emetic drugs, indicating that they may be a more selective measure of conditioned malaise in rats. Here we review the literature on the use of conditioned flavor avoidance and conditioned gaping reactions as rat measures of conditioned nausea, as well as the neuropharmacology and neuroanatomy of conditioned gaping reactions in rats.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Collaborative Neuroscience Program, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada N1G 2W1. Electronic address: parkerl@uoguelph.ca.
authors.forename: Linda A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Parker
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001362:Avoidance Learning / Q000187:drug effects; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000187:drug effects; D003213:Conditioning, Psychological / Q000187:drug effects; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D006801:Humans; D009325:Nausea / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000523:psychology*; D051381:Rats; D013649:Taste
keywords: (Rat); Cannabinoid; Conditioned disgust; Conditioned taste aversion; Conditioned taste avoidance; Gustatory; Insular cortex; Lithium chloride; Nausea; Serotonin