Objective To investigate the changes of neuronal activation in taste-related nuclei following intraoral taste stimulation with binary taste mixtures of sucrose and NaCl. Methods Neuronal activation in response to intraoral taste stimulation with 0.5 mol*L-1 sucrose, 0.3 mol*L-1 NaCl, sucrose+NaCl mixture and distilled water was evaluated in taste-related nuclei by using c-Fos-like immunoreactivity(c-FLI) in the rats deprived of water overnight. Results The consumption of sucrose+NaCl mixture was lower than that of sucrose solution. Intraoral sucrose or NaCl stimulation induced more c-FLI than distilled water in the external lateral subnucleus of the rostral parabrachial nucleus (PBN), but the c-FLI induced by intraoral sucrose+NaCl mixture stimulation was less than that induced by sucrose solution in this subnucleus. Compared with distilled water, the intraoral sucrose or sucrose+NaCl mixture stimulation induced more c-FLI in the central amygdala. ConclusionThese results suggest that salty taste has a suppressive effect on the neuronal activations induced by sweet taste in the external lateral subnucleus of rostral PBN in rats.
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