TRPM4 and PLCβ3 contribute to normal behavioral responses to an array of sweeteners and carbohydrates but PLCβ3 is not needed for taste-driven licking for glucose.

The peripheral taste system is more complex than previously thought. The novel taste-signaling proteins TRPM4 and PLCβ3 appear to function in normal taste responding as part of Type II taste cell signaling or as part of a broadly responsive (BR) taste cell that can respond to some or all classes of tastants. This work begins to disentangle the roles of intracellular components found in Type II taste cells (TRPM5, TRPM4, and IP3R3) or the BR taste cells (PLCβ3 and TRPM4) in driving behavioral responses to various saccharides and other sweeteners in brief-access taste tests.

Chronic Intermittent Sucrose Consumption Facilitates the Ability to Discriminate Opioid Receptor Blockade with Naltrexone in Rats.

The opioid antagonist naltrexone (NTX) decreases intake of preferred diets in rats at very low doses relative to doses needed to decrease intake of "bland" laboratory chow. In the absence of an opioid agonist, NTX is not discriminable using operant techniques. In the current study, we found that rats given intermittent access to a 25% sucrose solution learned to discriminate between various naltrexone doses and saline.

Temperature Is Sufficient to Condition a Flavor Preference for a Cold-Paired Solution in Rats.

Increasing evidence suggests that stimulus temperature modifies taste signaling. However, understanding how temperature modifies taste-driven behavior is difficult to separate as we must first understand how temperature alone modifies behavior. Previous work has suggested that cold water is more rewarding and "satiating" than warm water, and water above orolingual temperature is avoided in brief-access testing.

Altering salivary protein profile can decrease aversive oromotor responding to quinine in rats.

Bitter taste is often associated with toxins, but accepting some bitter foods, such as green vegetables, can be an important part of maintaining a healthy diet. It has previously been shown that animals exposed to quinine upregulate a set of salivary proteins (SPs), and those with upregulated SPs have increased rates of feeding on a quinine diet as well as increased brief-access licking to and higher detection thresholds for quinine. These studies suggest that SPs alter orosensory feedback; however, they rely on SPs upregulated by diet exposure and cannot control for the role of learning.