LiCl-induced sickness modulates rat gustatory cortical responses.
Bradly T Stone1, Jian-You Lin2, Abuzar Mahmood1
1Graduate Program in Neuroscience, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts, United States of America.
Plos Biology
|July 25, 2022
Summary
Illness alters brain activity in the gustatory cortex (GC), reducing taste response accuracy and promoting a simplified "good-bad" coding. This neural shift explains why sickness decreases food consumption.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Sensory Processing
- Behavioral Science
Background:
- The gustatory cortex (GC) integrates taste, experience, and internal states like illness to guide consumption decisions.
- Understanding how illness affects GC function is crucial for explaining behavioral changes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if illness is represented in GC activity.
- To determine how illness impacts taste responses and associated behaviors.
Main Methods:
- Recorded single-neuron activity and local field potentials (LFPs) in the GC of healthy and LiCl-injected (ill) rats.
- Analyzed changes in LFP power and neuronal responses to taste stimuli.
Main Results:
- Illness onset correlated with altered 7-12 Hz LFP power.
- Neuronal responses showed reduced taste magnitude and discriminability.
- Palatability-relatedness increased, indicating a shift towards a "good-bad" coding scheme.
Conclusions:
- Illness profoundly alters sensory cortical processing of taste.
- These changes in GC activity provide a neural basis for illness-induced reduction in consumption.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
01:20Taste Buds and Receptors
2.7K
Gustation, or the sense of taste, is intrinsically linked to the anatomical structures located on the tongue. This organ's surface, along with the entirety of the oral cavity, is adorned with stratified squamous epithelium. Evident on the tongue are elevated structures known as papillae (singular = papilla), which house the mechanisms for the transduction of gustatory stimuli. Four distinct types of papillae exist, each identified by their unique morphological attributes: the circumvallate,...
2.7K
01:24The Physiology of Taste
4.2K
The perception of a salty flavor is facilitated by sodium ions within the oral salivary fluid. Upon consumption of a salty substance, salt crystals disassemble, leading to the liberation of its constituents—Na+ and Cl- ions. These ions subsequently dissolve into the salivary fluid present in the oral cavity. The external environment of the gustatory cells experiences an elevation in Na+ concentration, thereby establishing a potent concentration gradient. This gradient propels the...
4.2K
01:43Gustation
48.6K
Gustation is a chemical sense that, along with olfaction (smell), contributes to our perception of taste. It starts with the activation of receptors by chemical compounds (tastants) dissolved in the saliva. The saliva and filiform papillae on the tongue distribute the tastants and increase their exposure to the taste receptors.
48.6K
01:14Conditioned Taste Aversion
222
Conditioned taste aversion, also known as sauce béarnaise syndrome, is a phenomenon in which an individual develops an aversion to a certain food taste following a negative experience, typically illness. This form of aversion is a type of classical conditioning in which the taste of the food (conditioned stimulus, CS) is associated with the experience of illness (unconditioned stimulus, UCS).
A notable characteristic of conditioned taste aversion is that it often requires only a single...
A notable characteristic of conditioned taste aversion is that it often requires only a single...
222