Saccharin preferences in prepubertal male and female rats: relationship to self-stimulation

Saccharin preferences were studied in 48 male and female prepubertal rats (22-23 days old at the beginning of the experiment) of four genetic lines (LC1-low, LC1-high, LC2-low, and LC2-high) which differed in their inherent tendencies to self-stimulate. Sodium saccharin solutions of 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, 1, 3, 10, and 30 mM concentrations were used against water in two-bottle tests. It was found that (a) prepubertal rats prefer saccharin solutions to water, with the range of favored concentrations similar to that of adults; (b) male and female prepubertal rats do not differ as to saccharin preferences; (c) within the LC2 population, animals of the genetically high self-stimulating line prefer saccharin more than do their LC2-low counterparts; no such differentiation of the LC1 high and low lines was observed.