FOOD-ASSOCIATED DRINKING IN RAT

Obtained precise temporal relations between feeding and drinking by recording their occurrence simultaneously and continuously. The ingestion pattern of 7 normal rats was comprised of discrete meals preceded or followed by drafts of water 78% of which ranged in size .5-2.5 ml. Drafts within the meal were rare and within the same size range. 6 desalivate neurologically normal rats and 8 recovered lateral rats showed prandial drinking, a pattern in which all drinking occurred within the meal, in minute drafts taken immediately after the ingestion of single 45-mg food pellets. After desalivation a slow transition to the prandial drinking pattern occurred. These differences in patterns suggest that food-associated drinking in the normal rat is controlled primarily by internal cues related to body-water need; prandial drinking is learned in response to the necessity to swallow dry food from a dry mouth. (27 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved). © 1969 American Psychological Association.