Odor and taste aversions conditioned in anesthetized rats

Incidental temporal binding in rats: A novel behavioral task

We designed a behavioral task called One-Trial Trace Escape Reaction (OTTER), in which rats incidentally associate two temporally discontinuous stimuli: a neutral acoustic cue (CS) with an aversive stimulus (US) which occurs two seconds later (CS-2s-US sequence). Rats are first habituated to two similar environmental contexts (A and B), each consisting of an interconnected dark and light chamber. Next, rats experience the CS-2s-US sequence in the dark chamber of one of the contexts (either A or B); the US is terminated immediately after a rat escapes into the light chamber. The CS-2s-US sequence is presented only once to ensure the incidental acquisition of the association. The recall is tested 24 h later when rats are presented with only the CS in the alternate context (B or A), and their behavioral response is observed. Our results show that 59% of the rats responded to the CS by escaping to the light chamber, although they experienced only one CS-2s-US pairing. The OTTER task offers a flexible high throughput tool to study memory acquired incidentally after a single experience. Incidental one-trial acquisition of association between temporally discontinuous events may be one of the essential components of episodic memory formation.

What Is It Like to Be a Bass? Red Herrings, Fish Pain and the Study of Animal Sentience

Debates around fishes' ability to feel pain concern sentience: do reactions to tissue damage indicate evaluative consciousness (conscious affect), or mere nociception? Thanks to Braithwaite's discovery of trout nociceptors, and concerns that current practices could compromise welfare in countless fish, this issue's importance is beyond dispute. However, nociceptors are merely necessary, not sufficient, for true pain, and many measures held to indicate sentience have the same problem. The question of whether fish feel pain - or indeed anything at all - therefore stimulates sometimes polarized debate. Here, we try to bridge the divide. After reviewing key consciousness concepts, we identify "red herring" measures that should not be used to infer sentience because also present in non-sentient organisms, notably those lacking nervous systems, like plants and protozoa (P); spines disconnected from brains (S); decerebrate mammals and birds (D); and humans in unaware states (U). These "S.P.U.D. subjects" can show approach/withdrawal; react with apparent emotion; change their reactivity with food deprivation or analgesia; discriminate between stimuli; display Pavlovian learning, including some forms of trace conditioning; and even learn simple instrumental responses. Consequently, none of these responses are good indicators of sentience. Potentially more valid are aspects of working memory, operant conditioning, the self-report of state, and forms of higher order cognition. We suggest new experiments on humans to test these hypotheses, as well as modifications to tests for "mental time travel" and self-awareness (e.g., mirror self-recognition) that could allow these to now probe sentience (since currently they reflect perceptual rather than evaluative, affective aspects of consciousness). Because "bullet-proof" neurological and behavioral indicators of sentience are thus still lacking, agnosticism about fish sentience remains widespread. To end, we address how to balance such doubts with welfare protection, discussing concerns raised by key skeptics in this debate. Overall, we celebrate the rigorous evidential standards required by those unconvinced that fish are sentient; laud the compassion and ethical rigor shown by those advocating for welfare protections; and seek to show how precautionary principles still support protecting fish from physical harm.

Towards a comparative science of emotion: Affect and consciousness in humans and animals

The componential view of human emotion recognises that affective states comprise conscious, behavioural, physiological, neural and cognitive elements. Although many animals display bodily and behavioural changes consistent with the occurrence of affective states similar to those seen in humans, the question of whether and in which species these are accompanied by conscious experiences remains controversial. Finding scientifically valid methods for investigating markers for the subjective component of affect in both humans and animals is central to developing a comparative understanding of the processes and mechanisms of affect and its evolution and distribution across taxonomic groups, to our understanding of animal welfare, and to the development of animal models of affective disorders. Here, contemporary evidence indicating potential markers of conscious processing in animals is reviewed, with a view to extending this search to include markers of conscious affective processing. We do this by combining animal-focused approaches with investigations of the components of conscious and non-conscious emotional processing in humans, and neuropsychological research into the structure and functions of conscious emotions.

Dissociable learning processes, associative theory, and testimonial reviews: A comment on Smith and Church (2018)

Smith and Church (Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 25, 1565-1584 2018) present a "testimonial" review of dissociable learning processes in comparative and cognitive psychology, by which we mean they include only the portion of the available evidence that is consistent with their conclusions. For example, they conclude that learning the information-integration category-learning task with immediate feedback is implicit, but do not consider the evidence that people readily report explicit strategies in this task, nor that this task can be accommodated by accounts that make no distinction between implicit and explicit processes. They also consider some of the neuroscience relating to information-integration category learning, but do not report those aspects that are more consistent with an explicit than an implicit account. They further conclude that delay conditioning in humans is implicit, but do not report evidence that delay conditioning requires awareness; nor do they present the evidence that conditioned taste aversion, which should be explicit under their account, can be implicit. We agree with Smith and Church that it is helpful to have a clear definition of associative theory, but suggest that their definition may be unnecessarily restrictive. We propose an alternative definition of associative theory and briefly describe an experimental procedure that we think may better distinguish between associative and non-associative processes.

Examination of validity of a conditioned odor aversion (COA) procedure using low-dose of organic solvent as an applied procedure of the conditioned taste aversion

Smell of very low dose of chemical might evoke subjective physical symptoms in human by some process of learning named the aversion conditioning. But few scientific evidences of the hypothesis have been reported so far. Validity of conditioned odor aversion (COA) using low-doses of organic solvent as odor conditioned stimulus (CS) was examined. In conditioning phase, water-deprived male Sprague-Dawley rats were presented low, medium or high dose solution for 30 min followed by 0.3 M Lithium Chloride (LiCl) solution or saline injection. The xylene solution and drink water were simultaneously provided on the next day as two-bottle test. Consumption of medium dose of xylene solution was significantly decreased in LiCl injection group as compared with saline group. There was no difference between LiCl and saline injected animals in low group. Animals in high dose did not access to xylene even on the conditioning. These results indicate that animals showed high sensitivity for discrimination against concentration of xylene and that the medium dose of xylene functioned as the CS. We concluded that the COA used in the present study may be one of useful procedures to investigate olfaction of animal.

Conditioned taste aversions: From poisons to pain to drugs of abuse

Learning what to eat and what not to eat is fundamental to our well-being, quality of life, and survival. In particular, the acquisition of conditioned taste aversions (CTAs) protects all animals (including humans) against ingesting foods that contain poisons or toxins. Counterintuitively, CTAs can also develop in situations in which we know with absolute certainty that the food did not cause the subsequent aversive systemic effect. Recent nonhuman animal research, analyzing palatability shifts, has indicated that a wider range of stimuli than has been traditionally acknowledged can induce CTAs. This article integrates these new findings with a reappraisal of some known characteristics of CTA and presents a novel conceptual analysis that is broader and more comprehensive than previous accounts of CTA learning.

Conditioned taste aversion, drugs of abuse and palatability

We consider conditioned taste aversion to involve a learned reduction in the palatability of a taste (and hence in amount consumed) based on the association that develops when a taste experience is followed by gastrointestinal malaise. The present article evaluates the well-established finding that drugs of abuse, at doses that are otherwise considered rewarding and self-administered, cause intake suppression. Our recent work using lick pattern analysis shows that drugs of abuse also cause a palatability downshift and, therefore, support conditioned taste aversion learning.

Tracking variable environments: There is more than one kind of memory

Three kinds of memory help herbivores track changes in the environment. The first is the collective memory of the species with genetic instructions that have been shaped by the environment through millennia. This includes skin and gut defense systems. Auditory and visual stimuli and sensations of pain impinge upon the skin defense system that evolved in response to predation. The taste of food and the sensations of nausea and satiety are an integral part of the gut defense system that evolved in response to toxins and nutrients in plants. The second kind of memory in social mammals is represented by the mother, a source of transgenerational knowledge, who increases efficiency and reduces risk of learning about foods and environments. The third kind of memory is acquired by individual experience. Postingestive feedback from nutrients and toxins enables individuals to experience the consequences of food ingestion and to adjust food preference and selection commensurate with a food's utility. The three memories interact, each linking the past to the present, and collectively shape the present and future of every individual. Thus, the dynamics of foraging involves appreciating the uniqueness of individuals and subgroups of animals, each with their own genetic and behavioral history, and recognizing that foraging behaviors may not be stable, optimal, or even predictable in the conventional sense.

Learning without Memory

After a CS-US learning trial, powerful feedback (FB) selectively modulates the hedonic value of the US, perhaps affecting the CS as well. FB. operates regardless of the subject's attributions or awareness, often influencing the subject's unconscious motives in a single trial. Most of the evidence comes from feeding research where the taste US and the internal FB are independently manipulated, but similar influences are at work with painful, thermal and sexual USs in a wide variety of species including humans. Implications for cognitive theorizing and neural research on mechanisms of learning are discussed.

Primitive mechanisms of trauma response: an evolutionary perspective on trauma-related disorders

The symptoms we identify and the behaviors we recognize as defenses define which symptoms we see as trauma-related. Early conceptions of trauma-related disorders focused on physical signs of distress while current ones emphasize mental symptoms, but traumatizing experiences evoke psychobiological reactions. An evolutionary perspective presumes that psychophysical reactions to traumatizing events evolved to ensure survival. This theoretical review examines several primitive mechanisms (e.g., sensitization and dissolution) associated with responses to diverse stressors, from danger to life-threat. Some rapidly acquired symptoms form without conscious awareness because severe stresses can dysregulate mental and physical components within systems ensuring survival. Varied defensive options engage specialized and enduring psychophysical reactions; this allows for more adaptive responses to diverse threats. Thus, parasympathetically mediated defense states such as freeze or collapse increase trauma-related symptom variability. Comorbidity and symptom variability confuse those expecting mental rather than psychophysical responses to trauma, and active (sympathetically mediated flight and fight) rather than immobility defenses. Healthcare implications for stress research, clinical practice and diagnostic nosology stem from the broader evolutionary view.

Flavor aversion learning induced by lithium chloride in reptiles but not in amphibians

Flavor aversion learning occurs when digestive illness follows ingestion of a novel food. Such learning has been shown to exist in mammals and birds. In this experiment, we looked for flavor aversion learning in amphibians (Bufo paracnemis, Pachytriton breviceps) and reptiles (Basiliscus vitattus, B. basiliscus, Eumeces schneideri, Mabuya multifasciata). After intake of the novel food, the animals received i.p. injection of either lithium chloride (LiCl), an effective illness inducer, or a saline solution. A week later, the LiCl injection had not affected the food intake of the amphibians whereas in the lizards it had produced a strong aversion to the flavor of the novel food. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that specific mental capacities emerged with reptiles.

Does dietary learning occur outside awareness?

Several forms of dietary learning have been identified in humans. These include flavor-flavor learning, flavor-postingestive learning (including flavor-caffeine learning), and learned satiety. Generally, learning is thought to occur in the absence of contingency (CS-US) or demand awareness. However, a review of the literature suggests that this conclusion may be premature because measures of awareness lack the rigor that is found in studies of other kinds of human learning. If associations do configure outside awareness then this should be regarded as a rare instance of automatic learning. Conversely, if awareness is important, then successful learning may be governed by an individual's beliefs and predilection to attend to stimulus relationships. For researchers of dietary learning this could be critical because it might explain why learning paradigms have a reputation for being unreliable. Since most food preferences are learned, asking questions about awareness can also tell us something fundamental about everyday dietary control.

Ketaset-Rompun extends the effective interstimulus interval in long-trace taste-aversion conditioning in rats

The effect of anesthesia (Ketaset-Rompun) interpolated between the conditioned stimulus (CS) and unconditioned stimulus (US) during long-trace taste-aversion conditioning in rats was examined in three experiments. In Experiment 1, rats that were anesthetized immediately after experiencing a saccharin solution formed a taste aversion at a 3-h interval that typically does not support conditioning, a prolongation effect. Prior experience with the anesthetic eliminated the associability of the aversive consequences of the anesthetic but did not eliminate the anesthetic's prolongation effect. Some evidence was also obtained indicating that LiCl produced an aversion at the 3-h interval in unanesthetized rats if they had experience with the anesthetic prior to conditioning. In Experiment 1a, the interval between prior experience and conditioning was extended from 24 to 96 h. Results demonstrated that the evidence for conditioning at 3 h for unanesthetized subjects in Experiment 1 was not a robust finding. By reversing the role of Ketaset-Rompun (KR) and LiCl as prior experience manipulation and US treatment in Experiment 2, the prolongation effect was shown not to be due to the summation of the aversive properties of the anesthetic and the LiCl. Results were interpreted in terms of a hypothesized metabolic pacemaker.

Emergence of long-term memory for conditioned aversion in the rat fetus

Pregnant rats were subjected to garlic essential oil as the conditioned stimulus and 45 min later to LiCl as the unconditioned stimulus either on embryonic Days 15 and 16 (E15 and E16) or on 18 and 19 (E18 and E19). Control dams received only garlic, LiCl, or water. Progenies were tested on garlic drinking 6 weeks after the exposure to the stimuli via the mothers. In the E18 to 19 group, rats that were exposed to paired garlic-LiCl expressed a significant aversion for garlic. In the E15 to 16 group, no significant differences appeared between subgroups. These results confirm that an associative memory can be established before birth and suggests that this ability potentially emerges in a short time window of 3 days at the end of gestation. Moreover, it appears that a long-term memory can be acquired in utero and retained to be expressed postnatally when animals are autonomous.

Effects of conditioned food aversions on nutritional behavior in humans

Conditioned food aversion (CFA) and taste aversion (CTA) are widely occurring phenomena mediating rejection of solids or liquids, the ingestion of which has induced the onset of post-ingestional malaise. It is a powerful and durable imprint learning that may influence food choice and intake in all animals, including humans. For ethical reasons, CTA has been extensively investigated in a wide variety of laboratory animal's species but only incidentally in humans. Nevertheless, convincing evidence has been provided that CFA and CTA learning are possible in a wide range of human subjects. The results in humans may have some limitations in accuracy since data are sparse, sometimes indirect, and poorly controlled. There is only limited information on the extent of CFA in the elderly since most studies have employed questionnaire and/or interview methods on young people (i.e. college students). The present review evaluates the literature derived both from laboratory animals and humans. In the first instance, the salient features of food and taste aversion learning and the neural mechanisms involved in this learning behavior will be examined. Then, the problems encountered when trying to assess the role of learned food and taste aversions in the nutritional status of healthy as well as sick young or elderly people will be considered. In particular, the importance of CFA on the nutritional status of cancer patients and treatment of alcoholism will be examined. It is concluded that the data are compelling enough to warrant further research and, some indications and recommendations are suggested.

Ketamine blocks a taste-mediated conditioned motor response in perinatal rats

Brain N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) glutamate receptors have been implicated as important mediators of both learning and neuronal development. The current study investigated how ketamine HCl (a well-known NMDA-receptor blocking drug) would influence taste-mediated conditioned motor responses in perinatal rats. Dams pregnant with E19 rat fetuses were injected with 0, 50, or 100 mg/kg ketamine HCl (IP). One-half hour later, a reversible spinal block was performed on the dam, and fetuses received an oral injection of 10 microl 0.3% Saccharin (SAC) or water while in utero. After the oral injection, fetuses received either saline or LiCl (81 mg/kg, IP). The uterus was replaced and, 2 days later (E21), rats received oral lavage with SAC. Rats in other litters were born via a normal vaginal delivery and were exposed to SAC on postnatal day 3 (P3). Observations of motor responses were recorded immediately after the oral lavage of SAC. If SAC had been paired with LiCl in utero, both E21 and P3 pups exhibited a conditioned suppression of orofacial movements (compared to controls). Both doses of ketamine significantly attenuated this taste-mediated conditioned motor response. These data reinforce the current conception of the fetus and neonate as sophisticated sensors and responders to the uterine and extrauterine environment. Further, our findings indicate a role for NMDA receptors in the formation of a conditioned motor response in fetal rats.

Food aversion learning: a risk factor for nutritional problems in the elderly?

Food aversions that are acquired as a result of unpleasant experiences with foods represent a potent defense mechanism against poisoning. However, this powerful and durable form of conditioning can also contribute to avoidance of foods that are not poisonous, and are, in fact, quite nutritious. This is because such foods may be coincidentally associated with unpleasant gastrointestinal symptoms, sometimes due to transient, unrelated illness, or unpleasant drug side effects. Most of the studies of naturally occurring learned food aversions in humans have been focused on subjects of college age, so we have limited information about the extent to which such food aversions occur in the elderly. Additionally, most studies have employed questionnaire or interview methods that may have some significant limitations in the accurate assessment of the incidence of food aversions. Thus, although food aversion learning has been thoroughly documented in the animal laboratory, its role in everyday food selection in humans, including the elderly, remains relatively unclear.

Taste aversion learning: a contemporary perspective

Food aversion learning has attracted widespread interest because it is a highly adaptive, powerful type of learning with both practical and theoretical ramifications. It has features that make it unusual and robust when compared with other learning paradigms. It has relevance to human problems in that it is likely to contribute to food choice and appetite problems in certain clinical situations. And the robustness of this learning makes it a promising model for neurobiologists interested in understanding neural mechanisms of plasticity. This review provides a broad overview of these aspects of taste aversion learning and points to areas where questions remain and additional research is needed.

Ketamine blocks a conditioned taste aversion (CTA) in neonatal rats

These experiments explored the effects of glutamate, N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor blockade on the formation, retention, and expression of conditioned taste aversion (CTA) in young rats. Previous data from our laboratory suggested that ketamine administration potentiates a CTA in E18 rat fetuses. The current studies investigated this phenomenon in neonates. High-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) methods were used to determine the amount of ketamine that must be injected intraperitoneally (i.p.) to achieve brain ketamine levels in neonates comparable to those found in the fetuses from our previous experiments. Then, on their day of birth, Sprague-Dawley rat pups received injections of either 0.1, 10, or 70 mg/kg of ketamine HCI, i.p. or a Sal control injection. One-half hour later, pups were injected orally with either Saccharin (Sac; 10 microL of 0.3%) or water followed by an injection of either lithium chloride (LiCl; 81 mg/kg) or Sal (i.p.). The CTA was evaluated in two different tests. Two weeks after conditioning, the dam was anesthetized and the frequency with which pups attached to Sac-painted nipples versus nipples painted with water was measured (i.e., the nipple taste test, NTT). Controls for state-dependent learning were run in which 10 mg/kg of ketamine or saline (Sal) was administered before both taste aversion conditioning and the NTT. After weaning, the CTA was also evaluated by measuring the amount of Sac (0.3%) or water consumed during a two-bottle test. Neonates that received Sal control injections before the Sac + LiCl pairing acquired CTAs and avoided Sac-painted nipples. However, the pups injected with ketamine on the conditioning day only (P0) did not avoid Sac-painted nipples (as compared to controls). Pups that had ketamine both at the time of CTA training and testing, or just before the NTT, also failed to avoid Sac-painted nipples. Ketamine's acute effects apparently influenced the outcome of the NTT of state-dependent control subjects. Rat pups that received the highest doses of ketamine (10 or 70 mg/kg) and tasted Sac on P0 later failed to show a neophobia for Sac-painted nipples. Whereas, rat pups that received the high dose of ketamine and water on P0, later exhibited a neophobic response. These data suggest that ketamine did not impair the animal's ability to taste Sac. These data reflecting a ketamine-induced blockade of neonatal CTAs may be contrasted with our previous findings in which ketamine potentiated fetal CTAs. However, they are in consonance with data from adult rats suggesting that ketamine can cause an amnesia for CTAs. NMDA receptor blockade may shape memory formation in a manner that is dependent on the stage of brain development.

Oxytocin release from the neurohypophysis after the taste stimuli previously paired with intravenous cholecystokinin in anaesthetized rats

Intravenously administered cholecystokinin octapeptide (CCK) induces oxytocin release from the neurohypophysis in anaesthetised rats. Memory of conditioned taste aversion can be acquired under anaesthesia. The present experiments aimed at investigating whether taste stimuli previously paired with i.v. CCK evoke oxytocin release from the neurohypophysis in urethane-anaesthetised male rats. Sucrose solution (0.75-2.0 M) paired with i.v. CCK or the vehicle was applied to the tongue. After 3 h, sucrose solution was applied again. The second sucrose slightly increased plasma oxytocin concentration in rats that had received the first sucrose solution paired with the vehicle. Plasma oxytocin concentration after the second sucrose application, however, was significantly higher in CCK-injected than in vehicle-injected rats. In rats that received CCK 1 h before the first sucrose application, a second sucrose application did not produce the oxytocin response. The magnitude of the oxytocin response to the second sucrose solution was increased in a manner related to CCK doses. In separate experiments, NaCl solution (0.75 M) paired with CCK or the vehicle was applied to the tongue. The second NaCl solution applied 3 h after the first one facilitated oxytocin release both in the rats that had received CCK or the vehicle. The increase in plasma oxytocin, however, was significantly larger in CCK than in vehicle-injected rats. In rats that had received the first sucrose solution paired with CCK, a second sucrose solution evoked a significantly larger increase in plasma oxytocin concentrations than a testing NaCl solution did. In rats that had received NaCl solution paired with CCK, a testing sucrose solution did not significantly change plasma oxytocin concentrations. These data suggest that the taste stimulus previously paired with i.v. CCK induces oxytocin release from the neurohypophysis in urethane-anaesthetised rats.

Fetal sensory competencies

A growing body of evidence is available about the functioning of fetal sensory systems during gestation. This article aims at reviewing data concerning (i) the presence of potential sensory stimulation in the fetal milieu, (ii) the sequential functional development of the sensory systems and (iii) physiological and behavioral responses of fetuses to various types of stimulation. Human data are compared with data collected in other mammalian species. Most studies have investigated auditory and chemosensory (olfactory and gustatory) responsiveness of the fetus in the second half of gestation. They demonstrate that (i) motor and heart rate responsiveness depends on gestational age and characteristics of stimulation; (ii) fetal sensory experience has short- and long-term effects at morphological, functional and behavioral levels (for example transnatal learning). The clinical consequences of the fetal sensory functioning are developed.

The intensity of a fetal taste aversion is modulated by the anesthesia used during conditioning

Rat fetuses (E18) can learn a taste aversion in utero if experience with a sweet flavor (saccharin = Sac) is followed by a malaise-producing injection of lithium chloride (LiCl). Here we report that this phenomenon can be significantly modulated by the type of anesthesia administered to the pregnant dam before the conditioning procedure. Dams were anesthetized with one of the following drugs or drug combinations: (1) sodium pentobarbital; (2) ketamine hydrochloride and xylazine; or (3) sodium pentobarbital and ketamine hydrochloride. While under the influence of these anesthetics, rat fetuses received pairings of Sac + LiCl or one of the following sets of oral and systemic (i.p.) control injections: Sac + Saline, H2O + LiCl; H2O + Saline. At age 15 days neonatal rats were given a taste preference test by allowing them to select nipples painted with either saccharin or vehicle (H2O). After weaning, rats were given an additional taste preference test where they were allowed to drink from bottles filled with either 0.30% saccharin or water. Neonates that received Sac + LiCl injections avoided saccharin-painted nipples while neonates that received control injections in utero preferred saccharin-painted nipples. Rats that acquired the taste aversion under the influence of ketamine showed a significantly stronger conditioned taste aversion on the nipple preference test than did those from dams injected with sodium pentobarbital. The conditioned taste aversion was not detectable later during the bottle preference test. Since ketamine blocks N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) glutamate receptors, and these receptors have been implicated in neural plasticity during development, our data suggest that NMDA antagonism can potentiate fetal learning. Ketamine has been used as an obstetrical and pediatric anesthetic.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Tetrodotoxin blockade of amygdala overlapping with poisoning impairs acquisition of conditioned taste aversion in rats

The role of several forebrain structures in the association of the short-term gustatory memory (GSTM) of the conditioned stimulus (CS; 0.1% sodium saccharin) with the visceral unconditioned stimulus (US; 0.15 M LiCl, 2% b.wt.) in acquisition of conditioned taste aversion (CTA) was investigated. Experiment 1 examined the effects of bilateral reversible inactivation of amygdala (Amy), hippocampus (Hipp), gustatory cortex (GC), bed nucleus of stria terminalis (BNST), lateral hypothalamic area (LHA), ventral thalamus (VT) or LHA+VT, induced by intracerebral injection of tetrodotoxin (TTX; 10 ng/microliters per site) applied before i.p. injection of LiCl to rats anesthetized by pentobarbital (50 mg/kg) immediately after saccharin drinking. Amy blockade resulted in a complete disruption of learning, while the inactivation of the remaining areas examined produced mild or no impairments. The dose-related effects of TTX injection into Amy were investigated in Experiment 2. Doses of 3 and 1 ng TTX were as effective as the 10 ng dose used in Expt. 1. However, 0.3 ng or saline did not interfere with CTA acquisition. Analysis of the retrograde amnesic effect produced by transient amygdalectomy (Experiment 3), showed that TTX (10 ng) injected immediately or 1.5 h after LiCl application induced a marked learning disruption, whereas no amnesia was elicited at 6 and 24 h post-acquisition intervals. It is suggested that Amy plays an essential role in the associative phase of acquisition, but not in the consolidation of the permanent taste aversion engram.

Food aversion conditioned in anesthetized sheep

We discovered that a food aversion could be conditioned in anesthetized sheep. Sheep were allowed to eat a familiar food (alfalfa-grain pellets) for 30 min, and 90 min later they were given either an intraruminal (IR) injection of water (C), an IR injection of LiCl (L), anesthesia followed by an IR injection of water (A), or anesthesia followed by an IR injection of LiCl (A+L). Induction of anesthesia was by an intravenous injection of pentobarbitone sodium, and maintenance of deep anesthesia was by halothane. Sheep were maintained in deep anesthesia for 2 h to ensure that the effects of LiCl on the acquisition of a food aversion, which occur within about 1 h, were completed before they awakened. When tested 5 days later, sheep that received LiCl (treatments L and A+L) consumed less alfalfa-grain pellets than sheep that did not receive LiCl (treatments C and A) (241 g vs. 306 g; p = 0.057). Intake of sheep that were anesthetized (treatments A and A+L) did not differ from that of sheep that were not anesthetized (treatments C and L) (295 g vs. 252 g; p = 0.183). Nor was there an interaction between LiCl and anesthesia (p = 0.423). Thus, we conclude that changes in preferences for foods caused by postingestive feedback occur automatically every time food is ingested (i.e., they are noncognitive), and the kind and amount of feedback is a function of the match between the food's chemical characteristics and its ability to meet the animal's current demands for nutrients.

Cardiovascular conditioning and anticipatory nausea and vomiting in cancer patients

Explanations of individual differences in susceptibility to learning of anticipatory nausea and/or vomiting (AN/V) in cancer patients have focused mainly on the patients who develop AN/V. On the basis of conditioning theory, however, one would expect that all patients who experience post-treatment nausea and/or vomiting (PN/V) should develop AN/V. Consistent with findings demonstrating that conditioned responses are more easily established in autonomic-reactive individuals, we have previously reported that patients who do not develop AN/V (noAN/V) are less autonomic reactive than the AN/V patients. Thus, we hypothesized that the noAN/V patients might not show classical conditioning to the same degree and extent as the AN/V patients and that conditioning may be the mediating mechanism in AN/V. This study presents data from 36 patients. Among the 28 patients who experienced PN/V, 16 developed AN/V. We found no systematic group differences in severity of PN/V or antiemetic treatment. Before chemotherapy, all patients were tested in a signaled reaction-time paradigm. We used two different tones (CSs), one of which was always followed by a noise (UCS) as a button-press signal. The patients who later developed AN/V demonstrated significantly shorter reaction times, and also showed enhanced cardiovascular reactivity to the tone followed by the UCS (CS+) in comparison with the nonsignal tone (CS-). The noAN/V patients did not show differential cardiovascular responses to the CS+ and CS-.

Acquisition of enhanced natural killer cell activity under anesthesia

An increase in natural killer (NK) cell activity can be conditioned with a one trial learning paradigm to demonstrate the interaction between the central nervous system (CNS) and the immune system. In order to demonstrate learning possibilities during 'non-conscious' state, mice were anesthetized with a ketamin/rompun mixture and underwent one trial learning with odor cue as the conditioned stimulus (CS) preceding the unconditioned stimulus (US). The results indicated that mice that were exposed to camphor odor cue under the influence of anesthesia can associate the signal with the poly I:C unconditioned stimulus and were able to recall the conditioned response upon reexposure to the CS. Secondly, the conditioned association made in a conscious state can be recalled by exposure to the same olfactory odor cue in a 'non-conscious' state. The increase in the conditioned change in NK cell activity of both situations was significantly higher than the control group. The results demonstrate that learning can take place and the learned response can be recalled under the reduced awareness caused by anesthesia. The findings we report are unusual and novel in that they demonstrate that the CNS can learn new associations under conditions where the host is apparently unaware of the signals being linked. Anesthesia combined with the long interstimulus interval indicates that certain neuronal pathways in the CNS are receptive to second signals (elicited by the US) even when the second signal is separated by one day. This means the conditioned learning of a physiological response can take place unconsciously at a separate level and under situations where the host is totally unaware of the events which the brain is processing and linking as incoming information.

Acquisition of conditioned taste aversion in rats is prevented by tetrodotoxin blockade of a small midbrain region centered around the parabrachial nuclei

A remarkable feature of conditioned taste aversion (CTA) is the resistance of the association between the gustatory trace and symptoms of poisoning against disruptive procedures. In an attempt to identify the neural substrate of this phase of CTA acquisition, thirsty rats were offered 0.1% saccharin for 15 min, were immediately afterwards anesthetized with pentobarbital, received stereotaxic injections of tetrodotoxin (TTX, 10 ng/microliters) into various brainstem regions and were poisoned with IP injection of LiCl (0.15 M, 2% body weight). In Experiment 1, TTX prevented CTA acquisition when injected into the parabrachial nuclei but was ineffective in the lower medulla. TTX alone did not elicit CTA even at brain sites in which it caused death in 30% of the animals. In Experiment 2, the brainstem was systematically explored by a grid of bilateral TTX injections. A spatial gradient of the CTA disruption pointed to the parabrachial nuclei as the brain region responsible for the amnesic effect observed. Experiment 3 showed that a single TTX injection into the parabrachial nucleus on one side did not prevent CTA acquisition and that similarly ineffective were TTX injections in the sagittal plane both at the mesencephalic and bulbar levels. It is concluded that the pivotal role of the parabrachial nuclei in the formation of the permanent CTA engram can only be revealed by functional blockade which is more radical than that achieved during general anesthesia.