Taste, olfactory and trigeminal neophobia in rats with forebrain lesions

Brain Res. 2009 Jan 28:1251:195-203. doi: 10.1016/j.brainres.2008.11.040. Epub 2008 Nov 21.

Abstract

The present study was designed to examine whether lesions of the insular cortex (IC; Experiment 1), the basolateral amygdala (BLA) or medial amygdala (MeA; Experiment 2) influence the neophobic reactions to orally consumed liquid stimuli. Three different types of stimuli were used: taste (0.5% saccharin), olfactory (0.1% amyl acetate), and trigeminal (0.01 mM capsaicin). Rats with IC, BLA and MeA lesions showed normal responses to the olfactory and trigeminal stimuli. Each type of lesion, however, disrupted the initial occurrence of neophobia to the taste stimulus. The significance of these findings to conditioned taste aversion is discussed.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Amygdala / anatomy & histology
  • Amygdala / physiology
  • Animals
  • Avoidance Learning / physiology*
  • Capsaicin / pharmacology
  • Cerebral Cortex / anatomy & histology
  • Cerebral Cortex / physiology
  • Denervation
  • Disease Models, Animal
  • Male
  • Neuropsychological Tests
  • Pain / physiopathology*
  • Pain / psychology
  • Pentanols / pharmacology
  • Phobic Disorders / etiology
  • Phobic Disorders / physiopathology*
  • Phobic Disorders / psychology
  • Physical Stimulation
  • Prosencephalon / anatomy & histology
  • Prosencephalon / physiology*
  • Rats
  • Rats, Sprague-Dawley
  • Saccharin / pharmacology
  • Smell / physiology*
  • Taste / physiology*

Substances

  • Pentanols
  • amyl acetate
  • Saccharin
  • Capsaicin