Universality of parabrachial mediation of conditioned taste aversion

Disruption of conditioned taste aversion (CTA) by tetrodotoxin (TTX) blockade of parabrachial nuclei elicited after ingestion of the gustatory CS and before administration of the visceral US is revealed by unchanged CS preference in retrieval test performed two days after acquisition. The universality of the above amnesia was examined in rats. In Experiment 1, parabrachial TTX disrupted CTAs when sodium saccharin (0.1%), quinine hydrochloride (0.0072%), sodium chloride (0.9%) or a garlic extract were used as the CS and i.p. LiCl (0.15 M, 2% body weight) as the US. In Experiment 2, parabrachial TTX disrupted CTAs when 0.9% NaCl was used as the CS and i.p. injection of LiCl (0.15 M, 2% body weight), D-amphetamine (3 mg/kg) or carbachol (0.15 mg/kg) served as the US. Experiment 3 showed that post-drinking parabrachial TTX blocked also CTA induced by LiCl drinking, i.e. under conditions of CS-US identity. Experiments 4 and 5 demonstrated that the amnesia is not confounded by TTX-induced reduction of fluid intake because the CTA disruption was well expressed even when tested after recovery of normal fluid intake 3 days after TTX injection and in animals receiving 12 days of preacquisition adaptation to limited fluid access. It is concluded that parabrachial nuclei represent an important point of convergence for various classes of CTA eliciting stimuli.