Taste-dependent sociophobia: when food and company do not mix.

Full Abstract

Using a combination of the paradigm of conditioned taste aversion (CTA) and of the paradigm of social interactions, we report here that in the rat, eating while anxious may result in long-term alterations in social behavior. In the conventional CTA, the subject learns to associate a tastant (the conditioned stimulus, CS) with delayed toxicosis (an unconditioned stimulus, UCS) to yield taste aversion (the conditioned response, CR). However, the association of taste with delayed negative internal states that could generate CRs that are different from taste aversion should not be neglected. Such associations may contribute to the ontogenesis, reinforcement and symptoms of some types of taste- and food-related disorders. We have recently reported that a delayed anxiety-like state, induced by the anxiogenic drug meta-chlorophenylpiperazine (mCPP), can specifically associate with taste to produce CTA. We now show that a similar protocol results in a marked lingering impairment in social interactions in response to the conditioned taste. This is hence a learned situation in which food and company do not mix well.

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Author information

Author/s: Guitton, Matthieu J (MJ); Klin, Yael (Y); Dudai, Yadin (Y);

Affiliation: Department of Neurobiology, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel. matthieu.guitton(-atsign-)pha.ulaval.ca

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Behavioural brain research (Behav Brain Res), published in Netherlands. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2008-Aug; vol 191 (issue 2) : pp 148-52

Dates: Created 2008/05/26; Completed 2008/09/24;

PMID: 18479764, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Animals
Antimanic Agents - administration & dosage
Avoidance Learning - physiology
Behavior, Animal - drug effects
Conditioning, Classical - drug effects; physiology
Food
Interpersonal Relations

Linear Models
Lithium Chloride - administration & dosage
Phobic Disorders - etiology
Piperazines - adverse effects
Rats
Serotonin Agonists - adverse effects
Taste

Associated Chemicals: Antimanic Agents (0) ; Piperazines (0) ; Serotonin Agonists (0) ; 1-(3-chlorophenyl)piperazine (6640-24-0) ; Lithium Chloride (7447-41-8)

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