RETENTION OF CONDITIONED TASTE-AVERSION TO NACL AFTER CHORDA TYMPANI TRANSECTION IN FISCHER-344 AND WISTAR RATS

Fischer 344 (F344) rats fail to prefer sodium chloride (NaCl) solution to water, and this behavior is dramatically altered by bilateral tran section of the chorda tympani nerve (CTX). Tests of retention and gene ralization of a conditioned taste aversion (CTA) to 0.15 M NaCl were u sed to assess alterations in salt taste perception after CTX. A CTA wa s established to 0.15 M NaCl in groups of F344 and Wistar rats after t wo pairings with LiCl (IP, 2% body weight; 0.15 M). After conditioning , animals received bilateral CTX or sham operations. Approximately 2 w eeks after surgery animals were tested for retention of the (STA. Aver sion to 0.15 M NaCl was evident in CTX and SHAM rats that had been con ditioned prior to surgery, with no apparent difference in magnitude as a function of surgical condition. Thus, although CTX profoundly alter s F344 rats' hedonic response to NaCl, it does not alter perceptual ch aracteristics so markedly that NaCl is no longer recognized as the sti mulus presented during aversion conditioning. Rather these studies sug gest that in both the F344 and Wistar strains the chorda tympani nerve is not necessary for retention of a presurgical CTA to NaCl. These st udies, therefore, do not provide evidence of changes in NaCl perceptua l ''quality'' as a consequence of CTX either in F344 rats, where such changes were indicated by the preference data, or in the Wistar rat, w here they were not.