AJP - Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, Vol 264, Issue 1 97-103, Copyright © 1993 by American Physiological Society
Food deprivation- and palatability-induced microstructural changes in ingestive behavior
J. D. Davis and M. C. Perez
Department of Psychology, University of Illinois, Chicago 60680.
The effects of 17 h food deprivation and stimulation by five concentrations
(0.05-0.8 M) of sucrose solutions on the licking behavior of rats were
investigated. Food deprivation increased the intake of the three lowest
concentrations (0.05, 0.1, and 0.2 M) but had no effect on the volume
ingested of the two highest concentrations (0.4 and 0.8 M). Food
deprivation had no significant effect on the duration of the meals of any
of the sucrose solutions; rather it affected the rate of ingestion. In
those cases where food deprivation did affect volume intake, it did so by
increasing the initial rate of ingestion. Although food deprivation had no
effect on the volume ingested of the two strongest concentrations of
sucrose, it nevertheless affected the ingestive behavior by increasing the
duration of the sustained periods of bursts of licking and decreasing their
number. Deprivation also significantly decreased the rate of licking within
these sustained bouts of licking. The results indicate that food
deprivation can affect the ingestive behavior of rats in ways that are not
revealed by measuring volumetric intake alone. The data also support the
view that food deprivation increases the palatability of the test
solutions.
