title: Saccharin Taste Conditions Flavor Preference in Weanling Rats.
abstract: Innate and learned taste/flavor preferences to chemical stimuli in weanling rats are not fully understood. Our previous study showed that weanling rats could establish conditioned flavor preferences when low, but not high, concentrations of sucrose solutions were used as associative rewarding stimuli. Here, we examined whether 3-week-old rats could acquire flavor learning when the rewarding stimulus was saccharin, a non-nutritive artificial sweetener. In the acquisition session, they consumed water with a flavor (cherry or grape) and 0.1% sodium saccharin with another flavor (grape or cherry) for 15 min daily on alternative days over 6 consecutive days. The subsequent test session revealed significant preferences for the flavor previously associated with saccharin. However, they failed to retain the preference when retested in adulthood at the age of 20 weeks. These behavioral results were similar to those previously demonstrated when 2% sucrose was used as an associative sweetener. Although these 2 solutions were equally preferred, the taste quality may not be the same because the weanling rats showed neophobia to 0.1% saccharin and a larger chorda tympani response than 2% sucrose. The present study showed that a conditioned flavor preference was established to saccharin in weanling rats on the basis of flavor-taste association.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health and Nutrition, Faculty of Health Science, Kio University, 4-2-4 Umami-naka, Koryo, Kitakatsuragi, Nara 635-0832, Japan and.
authors.forename: Kayoko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ueji
authors.affiliation: Health Science Research Center, Kio University, 4-2-4 Umami-naka, Koryo, Kitakatsuragi, Nara 635-0832, Japan.
authors.forename: Yuji
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Minematsu
authors.affiliation: Health Science Research Center, Kio University, 4-2-4 Umami-naka, Koryo, Kitakatsuragi, Nara 635-0832, Japan.
authors.forename: Daisuke
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Takeshita
authors.affiliation: Department of Health and Nutrition, Faculty of Health Science, Kio University, 4-2-4 Umami-naka, Koryo, Kitakatsuragi, Nara 635-0832, Japan and Health Science Research Center, Kio University, 4-2-4 Umami-naka, Koryo, Kitakatsuragi, Nara 635-0832, Japan ta.yamamoto@kio.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yamamoto
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005518:Food Preferences / Q000187:drug effects*; D007858:Learning / Q000187:drug effects; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D012439:Saccharin / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D013549:Sweetening Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D013649:Taste / Q000187:drug effects; D014886:Weaning
chemical_list: D013549:Sweetening Agents; D012439:Saccharin
keywords: electrophysiology; flavor; infancy; learning; preference; saccharin