Prior exposure to nutritive and artificial sweeteners differentially alters the magnitude and persistence of sucrose-conditioned flavor preferences in BALB/c and C57BL/6 inbred mouse strains

• Published in: Nutritional neuroscience Vol. 22; no. 10; pp. 706 - 717
• Main Authors: LaMagna, Sam, Olsson, Kerstin, Warshaw, Deena, Fazilov, Gabriela, Iskhakov, Ben, Buras, Agata, Bodnar, Richard J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Taylor & Francis 03-10-2019
• Subjects: Animals; Conditioning, Classical; Female; Food Preferences; Genetic variance; Male; Mice, Inbred BALB C; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Pavlovian conditioning; Saccharin; Saccharin - administration & dosage; Species Specificity; Sucrose; Sucrose - administration & dosage; Sweetening Agents - administration & dosage; Genetic variance; Saccharin; Pavlovian conditioning; Sucrose
• ISSN: 1028-415X; 1476-8305
• DOI: 10.1080/1028415X.2018.1436216

Murine genetic variance affects sucrose's ability to condition flavor preferences (CFP) relative to saccharin. Whereas BALB/c mice display robust sucrose- and fructose-CFP, C57BL/6 mice only display sucrose-CFP. Prior exposure to sucrose or saccharin solutions alters subsequent food choice responsiveness. The present study examined whether pre-exposure for one month to 10% sucrose or 0.2% saccharin altered subsequent sucrose-CFP in male and female BALB/c and C57BL/6 mice. Two weeks later, food-restricted mice were exposed to 10 CFP training trials with uniquely flavored 16% sucrose and 0.2% saccharin solutions. Two-bottle choice tests of the flavors mixed in saccharin followed for 4 weeks. Male mice weighed more than females across all conditions, and male BALB/c, but not C57BL mice consumed more 85 sucrose than females. No other notable sex differences were observed. BALB/c mice consumed more sucrose during pre-exposure and one-bottle training than C57BL/6 mice. Although the magnitudes of sucrose-CFP were comparable in two-bottle choice tests in water-exposed BALB/c and C57BL/6 mice, sucrose- and saccharin-exposed BALB/c mice displayed significantly greater sucrose-CFP preferences relative to C57BL/6 counterparts. These data indicate murine genetic variance in the effects of prior exposure to nutritive or non-nutritive sweeteners upon the magnitude of adult sugar-CFP.