AJP - Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, Vol 264, Issue 3 539-R543, Copyright © 1993 by American Physiological Society
Sodium appetite in response to sodium deficiency in baboons
D. A. Denton, J. W. Eichberg, R. Shade and R. S. Weisinger
Howard Florey Institute of Experimental Physiology and Medicine, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.
Naive male baboons exhibit little hedonic intake of 300 mM NaCl but develop
a robust Na appetite with Na deficiency. With the first episode of Na
deficiency, increased drinking of saline solution occurs in the first 1-3
days, but correction of deficit is slow over 5-6 days. Na intake and repair
of deficit become more rapid with experience. After three episodes of Na
deficiency, the baboons immediately drink Na solution when given access and
repair the deficit over 1-2 days. These experimental data showing an innate
Na appetite in primates are important in relation to behavior of gorillas
and chimpanzees in the wild and anthropological records of behavior toward
salt sources. They open an avenue for physiological analysis of cerebral
mechanisms subserving Na appetite in primates and humans.
