Role of central noradrenaline neurons in the contextual control of latent inhibition in taste aversion learning.

Abstract

Three experiments were performed to examine the effects of noradrenaline (NA) depletion, using 3 different methods: lesions of the dorsal noradrenergic bundle (DB) with 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA), lesions induced by neonatal treatment with 6-OHDA and lesions induced by systemic DSP4 upon latent inhibition, using the taste-aversion learning procedure. NA depleted and control (sham, vehicle or saline) rats were given pre-exposure trials to either novel saccharin or to novel saccharin in a novel type of drinking bottle (the noisy bottle). Later, during conditioning trials saccharin was presented in the noisy bottles for all the rats, followed by lithium chloride injections. Saccharin aversions, tested for in the noisy bottles, indicated considerably weaker saccharin aversions (i.e. more latent inhibition) by the control groups pre-exposed to both saccharin and the noisy bottles. These context-dependent latent inhibition effects were clearly attenuated by all 3 treatments that depleted central NA. Biochemical assays confirmed the NA depletions in each case. The results, demonstrating the intimate role of central NA neurons in contextual control of latent inhibition in taste-aversion learning, appear to conform with current attentional theories of NA function in the forebrain.