Taste Reactivity/Hedonic Expression Analysis
Objective: Measure affective orofacial expressions indicating hedonic 'liking' or aversive 'disliking' reactions to taste stimuli (sucrose and quinine) following nucleus accumbens shell microinjections
This is a Taste Reactivity/Hedonic Expression Analysis protocol using rat as the model organism. The procedure involves 5 procedural steps, 3 equipment items, 3 materials. Extracted from a 2002 paper published in Journal of Neuroscience.
Model and subjects
rat • Not specified • unknown • Not specified • Not specified
Study window
Estimated timing pending
Core workflow
Microinjection surgery • Observe eating behavior • Measure taste reactivity orofacial expressions
Primary readouts
- Affective orofacial expressions indicating 'liking' reactions (positive hedonic responses)
- Affective orofacial expressions indicating 'disliking' reactions (aversive responses including gapes)
- Eating behavior frequency and duration
- Conditioned place preference scores
Key equipment and reagents
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Protocol Steps
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Microinjection surgery
Perform microinjection of muscimol into nucleus accumbens shell at rostral, intermediate, or caudal coordinates
Note: Rostral injections: 75 ng; Caudal injections: dose not specified; Intermediate injections: dose not specified
View evidence from paper
“Microinjection of the GABA A agonist muscimol in the rostral medial accumbens shell in rats”
Observe eating behavior
Measure appetitive eating behavior following microinjection
Note: Rostral injections elicit increased eating; caudal injections elicit defensive treading instead
View evidence from paper
“Farthest rostral muscimol microinjections (75 ng) caused increased eating behavior”
Measure taste reactivity orofacial expressions
Record affective orofacial expressions (hedonic 'liking' or aversive 'disliking' reactions including gapes) in response to taste stimuli
Note: Rostral injections produce positive hedonic reactions to sucrose; caudal injections produce negative aversive reactions to sucrose or quinine
View evidence from paper
“affective hedonic and aversive orofacial expressions of taste-elicited 'liking' and 'disliking' (gapes, etc.)”
Conduct place preference/avoidance conditioning
Measure conditioned place preference or avoidance behaviors following microinjection
Note: Rostral injections cause positive place preferences; caudal injections cause place avoidance
View evidence from paper
“caused positive conditioned place preferences and increased positive hedonic reactions”
Observe fear and defensive behaviors
Record fearful defensive treading and other fear-related behaviors
Note: Caudal shell microinjections elicit defensive treading; intermediate sites may show mixed positive/negative behaviors
View evidence from paper
“caudal shell instead elicits fearful defensive treading behavior”