Presentation Details
| Evaluating Behavioral Expression of Neophobia Across A Spectrum of Tastes Walter/J Krueger, John/D Boughter Jr., Max/L Fletcher. Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Integrated Biomedical Sciences Program, College of Graduate Health Sciences, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN, USA |
Abstract
Taste neophobia is an established behavioral phenomenon in rodents and serves as a critical model for studying the intersection of learning, memory, and adaptive decision-making. Neophobia limits exposure to toxic substances by minimizing initial consumption until the safety of the novel food is established. Currently, the prevailing opinion is that neophobia is generalized to all novel tastants and that expression of neophobia is characterized by a decreased level of palatability. However, this conclusion is based almost exclusively on studies using saccharin. To date, no studies have directly compared the extent of neophobia to a variety of different tastes to fully test the above hypotheses. Here, we quantified the behavioral expression of neophobia in naïve mice to a wide range of novel tastants using a brief-access paradigm in which mice alternated licking of one of the stimuli and water for 5 days. For 2 concentrations of saccharin, mice displayed typical neophobia, with a robust increase in preferential licking of saccharin on days 2-5. We also found neophobic behavior in response to one concentration of QHCl, but not in response to sucrose, MSG, or NaCl. Therefore, neophobia was taste dependent, with only saccharin and quinine causing reduced initial intake followed by attenuation over days. A sucrose-quinine mixture produced neophobia similar to that elicited by saccharin, supporting the premise that the complex sweet-bitter taste of saccharin makes it an ideal neophobic stimulus. This has implications for understanding the natural organization of this behavior, with the notion that animals initially avoid novel appetitive foods that may contain a hint of toxicity (i.e., bitterness) but then increase consumption of those foods following the absence of negative post-ingestive consequences.
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No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author.
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