K. Nakamura et R. Norgren, SODIUM-DEFICIENT DIET REDUCES GUSTATORY ACTIVITY IN THE NUCLEUS OF THE SOLITARY TRACT OF BEHAVING RATS, American journal of physiology. Regulatory, integrative and comparative physiology, 38(3), 1995, pp. 647-661
The activity of single taste neurons was recorded from the nucleus of
the solitary tract before (n = 41) and after (n = 58) awake, behaving
rats were switched to a sodium-free diet. During sodium deprivation, t
he spontaneous activity of the neurons increased (142%), but responses
to water and sapid stimuli decreased. For all neurons in the sample,
the mean response to water decreased to 72% of its predeprivation leve
l, NaCl dropped to 53%, sucrose to 41%, citric acid to 68%, and quinin
e HCl to 84%. Despite the drop in magnitude, the response profiles of
the taste neurons were not changed by the dietary condition. In the Na
-replete state, 61% of the activity elicited by NaCl occurred in NaCl-
best cells and 33% in sucrose-best neurons. In the depleted state, the
se values were 60 and 26%, respectively. Nevertheless, at the highest
concentrations tested, deprivation did alter the relative responsivene
ss of the gustatory neurons to sucrose and NaCl in specific categories
of neurons. Compared with acute preparations, dietary sodium deprivat
ion in awake, behaving rats produced a more general reduction in the g
ustatory responses of neurons in the nucleus of the solitary tract. Th
e largest reductions in elicited activity occurred for the ''best stim
ulus'' of a particular neuron, thus leading to smaller differences in
response magnitude across stimuli, particularly at the highest concent
rations tested.