Attempts to produce taste-aversion learning in rats exposed to 60-Hz electric fields

✍ Scribed by J. A. Creim; R. H. Lovely; W. T. Kaune; R. D. Phillips

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1984
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 961 KB
• Volume: 5
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0197-8462
• DOI: 10.1002/bem.2250050214

✦ Synopsis

A measure of taste-aversion (TA) learning was used in three experiments to 1) determine whether exposure to intense 60-Hz electric fields can produce TA learning in male Sprague-Dawley rats, and 2) establish a dose-response function for the behavior in question. In Experiment 1, four groups of eight rats each were distributed into one of two exposures (69 +/- 5 kV/m or 133 +/- 10 kV/m) or into one of two sham-exposure groups. Conditioning trials paired 0.1% sodium saccharin in water with 3 h of exposure to a 60-Hz electric field. Following five conditioning trials, a 20-min, two-bottle preference test between water and saccharin-flavored water failed to reveal TA conditioning in exposed groups. In Experiment 2, four groups of eight rats each (34 +/- 2 kV/m or 133 +/- 10 kV/m and two sham-exposed groups) were treated as before. Electric-field exposure had no effect on TA learning. Experiment 3 tested for a possible synergy between a minimal dose (for TA learning) of cyclophosphamide (6 mg/kg) and 5 h of exposure to 133 +/- 10 kV/m electric fields in a dark environment under conditions otherwise similar to those of Experiments 1 and 2. The results indicated no TA learning as reflected in the relative consumption of saccharin.