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Parasite-induced learned taste aversion involving Nippostrongylus in rats

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

Anne Keymer ,
D. W. T. Crompton  and
B. J. Sahakian
Anne Keymer
Affiliation:
Department of Parasitology, The Molteno Institute, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, CambridgeCB2 3EE
D. W. T. Crompton
Affiliation:
Department of Parasitology, The Molteno Institute, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, CambridgeCB2 3EE
B. J. Sahakian
Affiliation:
Dunn Clinical Nutrition Centre, University of Cambridgeand M.R.C. Dunn Nutritional Unit, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Trumpington Street, CambridgeCB2 1QE
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Summary

After demonstrating that rats were capable of discriminating between the same diet treated with either flavour 1 or flavour 2 and that the 2 flavours of diet were equipreferred, an experiment was carried out to see whether learned taste aversion might play a role in the reduction of food intake that is commonly observed during the course of a parasitic infection. The results showed that rats, given a subcutaneous inoculation of approximately 6000 third-stage larvae of Nippostrongylus brasiliensis (Nematoda) while feeding on a diet containing flavour 2, strongly preferred to eat diet containing flavour 1 when given simultaneous choice conditions. Uninfected rats showed no preference and ate equal amounts of both flavoured diets. This effect is interpreted as the first experimental demonstration of learned taste aversion using a eukaryotic parasite as the inductive agent.

Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 86 , Issue 3 , June 1983 , pp. 455 - 460
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1983

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