D-cycloserine decreases rather than increases intake during extinction of a conditioned taste aversion

Description

This dataset accompanying the 2026 article: D-cycloserine decreases rather than increases intake during extinction of a conditioned taste aversion. We hypothesized that D-cycloserine (DCS) administration would promote the extinction of a conditioned taste aversion (CTA) in rats. We found that a subset of rats exhibited a non-extinguishing phenotype, and contrary to our hypothesis, DCS reduced food intake in rats that were not extinguishing. We show that DCS does not reduce intake in the absence of a CTA and suggest that DCS may exacerbate CTA in this subset of rats by facilitating reconsolidation of the original aversive memory. This dataset includes baseline, daily, total saccharin intake of rats, and their extinguisher status (In experiments 3 and 4).

Steps to reproduce

Adult Sprague-Dawley rats were water-restricted and trained to consume water at a scheduled time of day prior to all experiments. An acquisition trial was performed where the rats were given saccharin-flavored water (0.1% w/v) for 30 minutes and then injected with lithium chloride (LiCl; 63.6 mg/kg) to induce a CTA or saline (experiment 1 only) as a control. Saccharin bottles were weighed before and after the first injection to establish a baseline saccharin intake and after each drinking session to determine daily intake. Unflavored water access for 30 minutes was provided 4.5 hours and 19.5 hours after the acquisition injection. A second acquisition trial was conducted 48 hours after the first injection to ensure the development of a robust CTA, and the rats were given water 4.5 hours and 19.5 hours after the second acquisition injection. 24 hours later, we performed extinction trials where the rats were presented with the saccharin solution for 30 minutes without additional injections. The rats were given access to unflavored water for 30 minutes 4.5 hours after each extinction session. Experiment 1: DCS (15 mg/kg) or saline was administered immediately following the first 3 extinction sessions. An additional 3 extinction sessions after the last dose of DCS or saline were performed without drug administration. Experiment 2: DCS (15mg/kg) or saline was administered 30 minutes prior to the extinction session on either the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th extinction sessions. Extinction was assessed for a total of 8 sessions for the remaining experiments. Experiment 3: DCS (15 mg/kg) or saline were administered immediately after the 4th extinction session. The rats were classified as extinguishers if their saccharin intake during the 4th extinction session was at least 32% of their baseline intake or nonextinguishers if their intake was 31% or lower than their baseline intake. Experiment 4: DCS (30 mg/kg) or saline was administered immediately following the 4th extinction session. Experiment 5: Rats were given unflavored water training for 4 days to acclimate them to the drinking procedure and 3 days of saccharin exposure to reduce the novelty of the taste. No CTA was induced in experiment 5. DCS (15 or 30 mg/kg) or saline was administered 30 minutes prior to saccharin exposure on day 4 to assess whether DCS induces a taste aversion. Saccharin intake was monitored for an additional 4 days, in the absence of additional injections.

Institutions

• Georgia State University

  Georgia, Atlanta

Categories

Funders

• The Marcus Foundation

  Grant ID: NA

Licence