Presentation Details
| Juvenile exposure to a bitter diet increases acceptance of quinine in adulthood Verenice Ascencio Gutierrez1, Jyothi Vasavan1, Kamila D Nixon1, Ann-Marie Torregrossa1, 2. 1Department of Psychology, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, USA.2Center for Ingestive Behavior Research, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, USA |
Abstract
Repeated exposure (RE) to a bitter diet increases expression of a subset of salivary proteins (SPs) which decrease bitter taste sensitivity and increase bitter acceptance. The work however has focused on adult rats on short timescales. Rodent models could offer the opportunity to look at the stability of these changes across the lifetime. It is widely known that RE during childhood can increase acceptance of bitter vegetables in children but whether the increased acceptance after RE during childhood persists into adulthood is unknown. Here, we ask if juvenile exposure increases bitter acceptance into adulthood using rodent models. Pups were weaned at postnatal day (PD) 21 onto a 0.375% quinine diet or a control diet. After 14 days all rats were given the control diet for the remainder of the study. At adult-onset (PD 65), half of the rats were tested in brief-access taste tests while the other half were given long term (22-h) acceptance tests. Brief-access animals were offered sucrose and quinine in separate tests. There was no effect of early life dietary exposure on licking to either stimulus (p’s > 0.05). Long term test rats were given 22-hr access to a bottle of 1mM quinine solution. Intake was measured at 6-hr and 22-hr timepoints. Quinine-exposed rats (n=16) show greater quinine intake at 6hr (p = 0.06) and 22hr (p = 0.02) compared to control (n=17). Quinine-exposed rats also show increased burst number and burst size to quinine at the 22-hr timepoint (p’s <0.05). These data suggest that early-life exposure to bitters can increase acceptance of bitter into adulthood. We are now analyzing the salivary protein signatures of both groups.
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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.