Nutritive expectancies mediate cholecystokinin's suppression-of-intake effect

In previous studies of cholecystokinin's (CCK's) effect on consumption, physical features (e.g., taste, texture, and odor) of test meals were confounded with the nutritive expectancies elicited by those features. To separately assess the role of these two factors in supporting CCK's suppression-of-intake effect, we varied the caloric expectancies elicited by a flavored test solution, while holding constant its actual caloric density, as well as all other unconditioned stimulus features. On alternate days for a 12-day period, hungry rats drank grape or orange Kool-Aid (noncaloric) mixed with a caloric 5% ethanol solution; on the other days, they drank the alternate flavor mixed with plain water. In a subsequent choice test between the flavored solutions without ethanol, the ethanol-associated flavor (Ef) was preferred over the water-associated flavor (Wf). Two days later, the rats were injected with either cholecystokinin octapeptide (CCK-8; ip, 2 micrograms/kg) or isotonic saline, and then given access to their Ef or their Wf for 1 hr. Consumption of the Ef was suppressed by CCK-8; intake of the Wf was unaffected. These results suggest that CCK-8's effectiveness in suppressing intake of a test meal may be related not to the unconditioned stimulus features of that meal but to the nutritive expectations elicited by those features.