Taste Reactivity
Objective: To measure hedonic impact using taste reactivity to assess positive hedonic reaction patterns elicited by sucrose and determine whether intra-accumbens amphetamine increases sucrose 'liking'
This is a Taste Reactivity protocol using rat as the model organism. The procedure involves 5 procedural steps, 4 equipment items, 3 materials. Extracted from a 2000 paper published in Journal of Neuroscience.
Model and subjects
rat • not specified • unknown • not specified • not specified
Study window
Estimated timing pending
Core workflow
Lever press training • Pavlovian conditioning • Bilateral microinjection
Primary readouts
- Cue-elicited increase in sucrose-associated lever pressing
- Positive hedonic reaction patterns elicited by sucrose (taste reactivity)
- Sucrose 'liking' versus sucrose 'wanting'
Key equipment and reagents
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Protocol Steps
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Lever press training
Rats were trained to press one of two levers to obtain sucrose pellets
Note: Initial training phase to establish instrumental response
View evidence from paper
“Rats were first trained to press one of two levers to obtain sucrose pellets”
Pavlovian conditioning
Rats were separately conditioned to associate a Pavlovian cue (30 second light) with free sucrose pellets
Note: Separate from lever press training to establish cue-reward association
View evidence from paper
“They were separately conditioned to associate a Pavlovian cue (30 sec light) with free sucrose pellets”
Bilateral microinjection
On test days, rats received bilateral microinjection of intra-accumbens vehicle or amphetamine at doses of 0.0, 2.0, 10.0, or 20.0 µg/0.5 µl
Note: Injections were bilateral into nucleus accumbens shell; different doses tested across sessions
View evidence from paper
“On test days, the rats received bilateral microinjection of intra-accumbens vehicle or amphetamine (0.0, 2.0, 10.0, or 20.0 µg/0.5 µl)”
Lever pressing test without reinforcement
Following microinjection, lever pressing was tested in the absence of any reinforcement contingency while the Pavlovian cue alone was freely presented at intervals throughout the session
Note: No sucrose or cue-based reinforcement during test; only Pavlovian cue presentation
View evidence from paper
“lever pressing was tested in the absence of any reinforcement contingency, while the Pavlovian cue alone was freely presented at intervals throughout the session”
Taste reactivity measurement
Hedonic impact was measured using taste reactivity to assess positive hedonic reaction patterns elicited by sucrose
Note: Measured to determine if amphetamine increased sucrose 'liking' independent of 'wanting'
View evidence from paper
“Using the taste reactivity measure of hedonic impact, it was shown that intra-accumbens amphetamine failed to increase positive hedonic reaction patterns elicited by sucrose”