Preference for Sucralose Predicts Behavioral Responses to Sweet and Bittersweet Tastants

Rats can be classified as either sucralose avoiders (SA) or sucralose preferrers (SP) based on their behavioral responses in 2-bottle preference, 1-bottle intake, and brief-access licking tests. The present study demonstrates that this robust phenotypic variation in the preference for sucralose pred...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Chemical senses Vol. 37; no. 5; pp. 445 - 453
Main Authors:	Loney, Gregory C, Torregrossa, Ann-Marie, Carballo, Chris, Eckel, Lisa A
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Oxford Oxford University Press 01-06-2012
Subjects:	Animals Biological and medical sciences Bitter taste Choice Behavior - physiology Food Preferences - physiology Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology Grooming - drug effects Grooming - physiology Male Olfaction. Taste Original Perception phenotypic variation Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry Psychology. Psychophysiology Quinine Quinine - pharmacology Rats Rats, Long-Evans Saccharin Saccharin - pharmacology Sodium chloride Sodium Chloride - pharmacology Substance P sucralose Sucrose Sucrose - analogs & derivatives Sucrose - pharmacology Sweet taste Sweeteners Sweetening Agents - pharmacology Tastants Taste Taste - drug effects Taste - physiology Taste Perception - drug effects Taste Perception - physiology Rat Rodentia Gustative system Vertebrata Mammalia Preference Gustation Animal Interindividual comparison Perception Sweetener Taste Behavior artificial sweetener rats Predictive factor individual differences
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Summary:	Rats can be classified as either sucralose avoiders (SA) or sucralose preferrers (SP) based on their behavioral responses in 2-bottle preference, 1-bottle intake, and brief-access licking tests. The present study demonstrates that this robust phenotypic variation in the preference for sucralose predicts acceptance of saccharin, an artificial sweetener with a purported concentration-dependent "bitter" side taste and a 0.25 M sucrose solution adulterated with increasing concentrations of quinine hydrochloride (QHCl). Specifically, SA displayed decreased preference for and intakes of saccharin (≥41.5 mM) and sucrose–QHCl (>0.5 mM QHCl) solutions, relative to SP. In a second experiment involving brief-access (30-s) tests, SP and SA did not differ in their unconditioned licking responses across a range of sodium chloride or QHCl solutions (0.03–1 mM). However, the acceptability threshold for sucrose was lower in SA, relative to SP (0.06 and 0.13 M, respectively). Our findings suggest that phenotypic differences in sucralose preference are indicative of a more general difference in the hedonic processing of stimuli containing "bittersweet" or "sweet" taste qualities.
Bibliography:	http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/chemse/bjr126 ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 ObjectType-Article-2 ObjectType-Feature-1
ISSN:	0379-864X 1464-3553
DOI:	10.1093/chemse/bjr126