Some stimulus properties of inhalants: preliminary findings

Water-deprived rats allowed access to 0.1% saccharin during 10 min followed by a 15-min (Exp. 1A) or a 30-min (Exp. 1B) exposure to lacquer thinner (6,360 ppm) failed to show a conditioned aversion to the saccharin solution. However, when the solvent odor was paired with water drinking followed by a 0.6 M LiCl injection (Exp. 2) the rats developed an aversion to water associated to lacquer thinner, drinking less than when water was presented alone. The findings suggest that whereas lacquer thinner does not appear to function as an unconditioned stimulus, it may acquire properties of conditioned stimulus in this paradigm of conditioned aversion.