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APPETITE, OBESITY, DIGESTION, AND METABOLISM

Nerve regeneration-induced recovery of quinine avoidance after complete gustatory deafferentation of the tongue

Department of Psychology and Center for Smell and Taste, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611

Submitted 27 February 2004 ; accepted in final form 28 July 2004

The concentration-dependent decrease in quinine licking by rats is substantially attenuated by combined bilateral transection of the chorda tympani (CT) and glossopharyngeal (GL) nerves, but transection of either nerve alone produces marginal impairments at most. Here we tested whether regeneration of one or both of these nerves after combined transection would result in recovery of taste avoidance. Water-restricted rats were presented with a series of brief-access (5 s) taste trials (water and 0.003–3.0 mM quinine-HCl) in a 5-day test block of 40-min sessions both before nerve transection and starting 75–77 days after transection. Licking avoidance returned to presurgical levels when both nerves were allowed to regenerate. When only the GL was allowed to regenerate, performance did not differ from that of sham-transected animals. This suggests that even after considerable gustatory deafferentation, regeneration has the capacity to restore normal taste-guided behavior. Surprisingly, when only the CT was allowed to regenerate, avoidance behavior was severely impaired and was not different from that of rats in which regeneration of both nerves was prevented. Taking into account prior findings, it appears that the absence of the GL in the presence of an intact CT is fundamentally different from the absence of the GL in the presence of a regenerated CT with respect to some taste functions. This represents the first reported instance to our knowledge in which the capacity of a regenerated nerve to maintain taste-guided behavior was distinctly different from that of an intact nerve in a rodent model.

taste; chorda tympani nerve; glossopharyngeal nerve; avoidance behavior; neural plasticity

This article has been cited by other articles:

				C. T. King, M. Garcea, D. S. Stolzenberg, and A. C. Spector Experimentally cross-wired lingual taste nerves can restore normal unconditioned gaping behavior in response to quinine stimulation Am J Physiol Regulatory Integrative Comp Physiol, March 1, 2008; 294(3): R738 - R747. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				L. C. Geran and S. P. Travers Single Neurons in the Nucleus of the Solitary Tract Respond Selectively to Bitter Taste Stimuli J Neurophysiol, November 1, 2006; 96(5): 2513 - 2527. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				A. C. Spector The Functional Consequences of Gustatory Nerve Regeneration as Assessed Behaviorally in a Rat Model Chem Senses, January 1, 2005; 30(suppl_1): i66 - i67. [Full Text] [PDF]