Characteristics of thirst and sodium appetite in mice (Mus musculus)

The intakes of water and sodium chloride (NaCl) solution were examined in mice following treatment with agents that either stimulate or mimic various components of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system. Injections of either angiotensin II (Ang II) or isoproterenol produced very little water intake compared with the robust responses to either intracellular dehydration or to extracellular dehydration induced by treatment with polyethylene glycol (PEG). In studies on appetite for NaCl solution, mice exhibited no spontaneous preference for 0.15 M NaCl solution over water and did not change this preference during treatment with deoxycorticosterone acetate (DOCA), a sodium-deficient diet, or after adrenalectomy. Plasma concentrations of aldosterone were increased in intact mice fed a sodium-deficient diet but were not eliminated by adrenalectomy. However, acute treatment with furosemide in combination with a sodium-deficient diet stimulated an appetite for NaCl solution. Chronic oral administration of an angiotensin I (Ang I) converting enzyme inhibitor failed to induce a NaCl appetite. These findings show that mice are refractory to the induction of either water or NaCl intake by stimuli of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, stimulation that is highly effective in rats; this suggests that there may be major differences among rodents in the hormonal determinants of behaviors related to hydromineral homeostasis.