Representation of hedonics and quality of taste stimuli in the parabrachial nucleus of the rat.

The distribution of evoked expression of the proto-oncogene c-fos was immunohistochemically examined in the parabrachial nucleus (PBN) of water-deprived rats after free ingestion of palatable liquids, after intra-oral infusion of aversive taste solutions including various bitter substances, and after an intraperitoneal injection of LiCl. C-fos immunoreactive neurons (c-fos neurons) were densely packed in the external lateral subnucleus (els), external medial subnucleus (ems), dorsal lateral subnucleus (dls), central lateral subnucleus (cls), and the central medial subnucleus (cms) depending on the kind of stimulation. The rostral part of the els may be related to general visceral inputs; the caudal part of the els, negative hedonics or aversive behavior; the dls, positive hedonics or ingestive behaviour. Both the ems and the els may be related to taste information for bitter tasting compounds and HCl; the cls, for sucrose and saccharin; and the cms, for NaCl.