Pharmacology of flavor preference conditioning in sham-feeding rats: Effects of dopamine receptor antagonists

Opioid and dopamine systems are both implicated in the response to sweet solutions. Our laboratory previously reported that the opioid antagonist, naltrexone, reduced the intake of sweet solutions, yet had little or no effect on sucrose-conditioned flavor preferences in sham-feeding rats. The present study examined the role of dopamine D₁ and D₂ receptors in the expression of flavor preferences conditioned by the sweet taste of sucrose. All sessions were conducted under sham-feeding conditions to minimize postingestive influences. Training was accomplished by adding a novel flavor (CS+) to a 16% sucrose solution, a different flavor (CS-) to a less-preferred 0.2% saccharin solution in alternating, one-bottle sessions. Preferences were assessed in two-bottle tests with the CS+ and CS- flavors presented in mixed sucrose (8%)-saccharin (0.1%) solutions following systemic doses of 0, 50, 200, 400, or 800 nmol/kg of the D₂ antagonist, raclopride (Experiment 1) or the D₁ antagonist, SCH23390 (Experiment 2) under either food-restricted or unrestricted conditions. Rats significantly preferred the CS+ solutions in vehicle tests, and displayed equipotent and dose-dependent reductions in total intake and CS+ preference following either D₁ or D₂ receptor antagonism. Similar results were obtained with SCH23390 and raclopride in Experiment 3 conducted with water-restricted rats. These data indicate that dopaminergic D₁ and D₂ receptors play pivotal and functionally equivalent roles in the expression of flavor preferences conditioned by the sweet taste of sucrose. Copyright (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Inc.