Raclopride reduces sucrose preference in rats

Dopaminergic D1 and D2 antagonists decrease the intake of sweet solutions during sham feeding. Because the decreased intake of 10% sucrose produced by the D1 and D2 antagonists has been demonstrated to occur in the absence of significant deficits in the initiation of ingestion, or of its motor performance, we investigated the hypothesis that raclopride decreases intake by lowering the reinforcing potency of the orosensory stimulation provided by sucrose during sham feeding. Rats were adapted to ingest two differently flavored 10% sucrose solutions for 5 min in one-bottle tests. The flavored solution that rats preferred was paired with pretreatment with a dose of raclopride (400 micrograms/kg, IP, 15 min) that produced a mean decrease of intake of 55%. The other flavored 10% sucrose solution was paired with vehicle (0.15 M NaCl) injections. After three or six pairings with raclopride or vehicle injection, two two-bottle preference tests were given without raclopride pretreatment. Preference for the flavored 10% sucrose solution previously paired with raclopride decreased significantly in both tests. We interpret this decreased preference as evidence that raclopride decreased the reinforcing potency of flavored 10% sucrose during one-bottle tests. This is consistent with our hypothesis and with the more general hypothesis of Wise that central dopaminergic mechanisms mediate the reinforcing effect of food.