Water intake after stomach loads of NaCl in Mongolian gerbils

Sixty mongolian gerbils (Meriones unguiculatus), 30 male and 30 female, were stomach loaded (2% b.w.) with either water or .9, 2, 6, 10, or 12% NaCl (wt x vol.). Unlike male rats, male gerbils did not lose weight. Female gerbils, like female rats, did not lose weight. However, female gerbils did not increase their water intake at any concentration, whereas males increased their water intake only at the 10 and 12% levels. These data are very much unlike those for the rat (male and female) which show an increase in water intake in response to NaCl solutions above isotonicity.