Sensitive period for the acceptance of unpalatable flavors in the presence of a pre-exposed odor in infant rats

IFRAN, MARÍA CELESTE; SUAREZ, ANDREA; PAUTASSI, R.M.; KAMENETZKY GISELLE

DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOBIOLOGY

JOHN WILEY & SONS INC

Lugar: New York; Año: 2020 vol. 62 p. 1092 - 1099

0012-1630

There is a sensitive period for odor learning, furthermore, early exposure to odors facilitates the acceptance of bitter flavors in a particular period of ontogeny in rats. This interaction has been studied in our laboratory; however there are not studies that consider the duration of this learning and its influence on the ingestive behavior of unpalatable tastants. The current study assessed the influence of a familiar scent (i.e., lemon) on the intake and ingestive patterns of rats towards a quinine solution (i.e., bitter taste) on postnatal day (PD) 9 and 15. In experiment 1, the results showed that a familiar odor can increase the intake of quinine on PD 9 rats. This result was reproduced in experiment 2 on PD 9 rats and the assessment of ingestive behavioral patterns, which did not show an increase in palatable responses towards quinine. There were no differences in pre-exposed or no pre-exposed rats to the lemon odor in PD 15 animals. These results suggest that this phenomenon would occur within a sensitive period, and that this could coincide with the sensitive period of olfactory learning.