Dissociation of the associative and visceral sensory components of taste aversion learning by tetrodotoxin inactivation of the parabrachial nucleus in rats.

The parabrachial nucleus (PBN) has been proposed as the associative site for conditioned taste aversion. Previous evidence has shown that functional blockade of the PBN by tetrodotoxin (TTX) produces retrograde disruption of lithium-induced taste aversions in rats. However, given the PBN role in processing visceral cues and the long duration of the lithium-induced aversive effects, an interpretation based on lithium chloride processing deficits can not be ruled out. The aim of the present study was to use the unconditioned stimulus (US) pre-exposure phenomenon to explore the effect of PBN inactivation by intracerebral TTX microinjections on visceral processing. Three intraperitoneal (i.p.) lithium chloride injections (0.15 M; 2% b.w.) applied before the conditioning session, but not isotonic saline i.p. injections, interfered with the acquisition of a learned aversion to a cider vinegar solution (3%) in cannulated control rats. Bilateral PBN inactivation by TTX (10 ng) applied immediately after each LiCl injections disrupted the US pre-exposure effect, thus confirming its sensory role. However, PBN inactivation 30 min after LiCl injections did not interfere with the US pre-exposure effect, in spite of the fact that an identically timed PBN blockade after the acquisition trial disrupted the acquisition of taste aversions. These results stand for the associative role of PBN in taste aversion learning induced by lithium chloride, independent of its sensory role. It is concluded that PBN activity is required after the conditioning trial for the taste-visceral association to take place.