Abstract
Three facts are reported. Need-free calcium intake is greater in virgin female rats than in male rats. Adult gonadectomy does not change this phenomenon. Both male and female rats display a greater avidity for calcium when they are calcium-deprived for the first time. The enhanced need-free ingestion of calcium in the female has its roots, perhaps, in the need for calcium that the female faces during pregnancy and lactation when she suffers calcium loss.
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This work was supported by an NIMH Research Career Development Award.
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Schulkin, J. The ingestion of calcium in female and male rats. Psychobiology 19, 262–264 (1991). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03332078
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03332078