Biomaterial Database

Taste responses in the nucleus of the solitary tract in saccharin-preferring and saccharin-averse rats. 1996

B K Giza, and S A McCaughey, and L Zhang, and T R Scott

Department of Psychology, University of Delaware, Newark 19716, USA.

A minority of rats consistently reject the taste of sodium saccharin at concentrations that the majority find palatable. We chose rats that selected either water (WP), or 0.03 M NaSaccharin (SP) in two-bottle preference tests and monitored single unit responses to a range of taste qualities in the nucleus of the solitary tract. WP rats gave significantly greater responses to Na/Li salts and QHCl. Their responses to sugars were equal to those from SP rats. Total activity to NaSaccharin did not differ between the two groups, but its distribution across the three identified neuron types did. The response was skewed from one in which sugar (S) and sodium salt (N) participated nearly equally (SP) to one dominated by the activity of N cells and nearly devoid of an S cell contribution (WP rats). Accordingly, the response profile for NaSaccharin was correlated nearly as well with those of the sugars (+ 0.60) as with the Na/Li salts (+ 0.73) in SP rats, but was reshaped in WP rats to be nearly identical with those of the salts (+ 0.85) and unlike sugars (+ 0.30). In their heightened sensitivity to stimuli that humans call salty and bitter, and in their rejection of the complex taste of NaSaccharin, WP rats showed many of the characteristics of human tasters of PTC/PROP.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D009474	Neurons	The basic cellular units of nervous tissue. Each neuron consists of a body, an axon, and dendrites. Their purpose is to receive, conduct, and transmit impulses in the NERVOUS SYSTEM.	Nerve Cells,Cell, Nerve,Cells, Nerve,Nerve Cell,Neuron
D011803	Quinine	An alkaloid derived from the bark of the cinchona tree. It is used as an antimalarial drug, and is the active ingredient in extracts of the cinchona that have been used for that purpose since before 1633. Quinine is also a mild antipyretic and analgesic and has been used in common cold preparations for that purpose. It was used commonly and as a bitter and flavoring agent, and is still useful for the treatment of babesiosis. Quinine is also useful in some muscular disorders, especially nocturnal leg cramps and myotonia congenita, because of its direct effects on muscle membrane and sodium channels. The mechanisms of its antimalarial effects are not well understood.	Biquinate,Legatrim,Myoquin,Quinamm,Quinbisan,Quinbisul,Quindan,Quinimax,Quinine Bisulfate,Quinine Hydrochloride,Quinine Lafran,Quinine Sulfate,Quinine Sulphate,Quinine-Odan,Quinoctal,Quinson,Quinsul,Strema,Surquina,Bisulfate, Quinine,Hydrochloride, Quinine,Sulfate, Quinine,Sulphate, Quinine
D002712	Chlorides	Inorganic compounds derived from hydrochloric acid that contain the Cl- ion.	Chloride,Chloride Ion Level,Ion Level, Chloride,Level, Chloride Ion
D004327	Drinking Behavior	Behaviors associated with the ingesting of water and other liquids; includes rhythmic patterns of drinking (time intervals - onset and duration), frequency and satiety.	Behavior, Drinking,Behaviors, Drinking,Drinking Behaviors
D004594	Electrophysiology	The study of the generation and behavior of electrical charges in living organisms particularly the nervous system and the effects of electricity on living organisms.
D005260	Female		Females
D005518	Food Preferences	The selection of one food over another.	Food Selection,Food Preference,Food Selections,Preference, Food,Preferences, Food,Selection, Food,Selections, Food
D000818	Animals	Unicellular or multicellular, heterotrophic organisms, that have sensation and the power of voluntary movement. Under the older five kingdom paradigm, Animalia was one of the kingdoms. Under the modern three domain model, Animalia represents one of the many groups in the domain EUKARYOTA.	Animal,Metazoa,Animalia
D012439	Saccharin	Flavoring agent and non-nutritive sweetener.	Saccharin Calcium,Saccharin Sodium,Calcium, Saccharin
D013649	Taste	The ability to detect chemicals through gustatory receptors in the mouth, including those on the TONGUE; the PALATE; the PHARYNX; and the EPIGLOTTIS.	Gustation,Taste Sense,Gustations,Sense, Taste,Senses, Taste,Taste Senses,Tastes