Postinjection suppression of drinking is modified by the presence of conditioned contextual cues: implications for both anticipatory and posttreatment nausea in humans.

In three experiments, we set out to determine whether the response of rats to an injection of LiCl would be modified by the presence of an environmental context that had previously been paired with LiCl. Experiment 1 confirmed that one feature of the malaise produced by LiCl is a reduced tendency to consume an otherwise palatable flavor. Experiment 2 showed that the size of this response was enhanced if it was measured in the presence of a conditioned context. In Experiment 3, we investigated the possibility that the postinjection response could be modified by an overshadowing treatment given during the conditioning phase. The significance of these findings for the understanding of chemotherapy-induced nausea in the clinical population is discussed.