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Flavor preferences conditioned by intragastric monosodium glutamate in mice

Karen Ackroff1, Anthony Sclafani

  • 1Department of Psychology, Brooklyn College of CUNY, 2900 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11210, USA. kackroff@gc.cuny.edu.

Chemical Senses
|October 15, 2013
PubMed

Insights

Monosodium glutamate (MSG) consumed in the gut reinforces flavor preferences in mice. Adding sweetness enhanced intake but only sweet-conditioned MSG led to a preference for MSG itself.

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Behavioral Science
  • Nutritional Science

Background:

  • Monosodium glutamate (MSG) consumption can reinforce preferences for MSG and associated flavors.
  • These effects are thought to involve postoral (gut-based) detection of MSG.
  • MSG detected in the gut may be associated with concurrently consumed flavors.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate postoral MSG reward mechanisms in mice.
  • To determine if sweet taste enhances postoral MSG conditioning.
  • To assess if postoral MSG conditioning influences oral MSG preference.

Main Methods:

  • Two experiments used intragastric infusions of MSG or water in C57BL/6 mice.
  • Mice consumed conditioned stimulus (CS+) flavors paired with MSG and CS- flavors paired with water.
  • Experiment 2 added saccharin to CS flavors to assess the role of sweet taste.

Main Results:

  • Postoral MSG conditioning produced modest preferences for MSG-paired flavors when unsweetened.
  • Sweet taste (saccharin) enhanced flavor intake but did not significantly increase preference persistence.
  • Only conditioning with a sweet-tasting flavor led to a preference for oral MSG.

Conclusions:

  • Postoral nutrient detection plays a significant role in flavor preference learning.
  • Sweet taste can modulate the intake of MSG-associated flavors.
  • Postoral MSG conditioning is sufficient to induce a preference for MSG itself, especially when paired with sweet tastes.
Keywords:
C57BL/6MSGgastric infusionintestinal chemosensingsweet tasteumami

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