Abstract
Rats that have been adrenalectomized will seek NaCl in food or in a solution, but they show a marked preference to regulate salt balance by drinking rather than eating. The hypothesis that rats do not regulate NaCl by eating because of limited exposure to diets rich in NaCl was tested in the present experiment. Twenty weanling rats were divided into two major groups: (1) experienced animals who were fed lab chow with extra NaCl added for 40 preoperative days, and (2) inexperienced animals that ate plain lab chow preoperatively. Half of each of these groups were adrenalectomized and half were sham operated. All animals had access to both plain and NaCl-enriched food postoperatively. The results showed that the adrenalectomized rats consumed considerably more NaCl-enriched food than did the sham animals, but that preoperative salt experience had no significant effect on intake. Sodium-deficient rats will seek out NaCl in food and regulate their salt need; this behavior occurs with or without preoperative experience with NaCl-enriched foods.
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This work was supported in part by funds from the Foundation of The University of North Carolina at Charlotte and from the State of North Carolina
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Grimsley, D.L. Effect of preoperative exposure to salty food on food selection in adrenalectomized rats. Psychobiology 17, 281–284 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03337781
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03337781