Effects of food deprivation on caffeine consumption in male and female rats

doi:10.1016/0091-3057(86)90484-3

Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior

Volume 24, Issue 6, June 1986, Pages 1555-1559

https://doi.org/10.1016/0091-3057(86)90484-3 Get rights and content

Abstract

The effect of food deprivation on caffeine consumption was investigated in male and female rats utilizing two-bottle preference tests. During ad lib food and water access, proportional consumption of six increasingly concentrated caffeine solutions (0.01–0.125%) steadily declined as concentration increased with no sex differences. Across concentrations, females tended to ingest more mg/kg caffeine than males. Food deprivation increased both proportional and mg/kg caffeine consumption in both sexes. When returned to ad lib food, proportional, but not mg/kg, caffeine consumption returned to pre-deprivation levels. Consumption of a quinine solution (0.02%), comparable to the caffeine in two-bottle preference, declined somewhat during food deprivation. These results indicate that caffeine preference and mg/kg consumption are increased by food deprivation and that this effect does not result from increased preference for bitter tastes per se. Rather, the results suggest that increased caffeine intake during food deprivation is due to a specific interaction between reduced body weight and the drug. The results also suggest that the deprivation effect is somewhat weaker in females than males, perhaps due to sex differences in reactivity to caffeine.

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However, if caffeine were self-administered with a more discrete stimulus or ‘bridge,’ and intake of the drug did not surmount the doses at which motivational effects are observed, then caffeine could be ‘self-administered’ even if somewhat adventitiously. This rationale prompted us to hypothesize that preclinical models of caffeine self-administration might be more consistent across subjects and repeated tests if the following conditions were met – 1) operant behavior is associated with a discrete non-drug reinforcer; 2) caffeine is self-administered in quantities that are within the range of increased motivational effects (Sheppard et al., 2012), 3) caffeine self-administration is carried out in an intermittent test paradigm (e.g., tests occur every 48 h) and 4) the potent bitter taste of caffeine (Heppner et al., 1986) is mitigated during the self-administration session. In the first two experiments reported here (Experiment 1 and Experiment 2a) caffeine was delivered by intravenous (IV) injection in conjunction with an oral gustatory reinforcer (0.2% saccharin).
Caffeine is widely consumed for its psychoactive effects worldwide. No pre-clinical study has established reliable caffeine self-administration, but we found that caffeine can enhance the reinforcing effects of non-drug rewards. The goal of the present studies was to determine if this effect of caffeine could result in reliable caffeine self-administration. In 2 experiments rats could make an operant response for caffeine delivered in conjunction with an oral ‘vehicle’ including saccharin (0.2% w/v) as a primary reinforcer. In Experiment 1, intravenous (IV) caffeine infusions were delivered in conjunction with oral saccharin for meeting the schedule of reinforcement. In control conditions, oral saccharin alone or presentations of IV caffeine alone served as the reinforcer. In Experiment 2, access to caffeine was provided in an oral vehicle containing water, decaffeinated instant coffee (0.5% w/v), or decaffeinated coffee and saccharin (0.2%). The concentration of oral caffeine was then manipulated across testing sessions. Oral and IV caffeine robustly increased responding for saccharin in a manner that was repeatable, reliable, and systematically related to unit IV dose. However, the relationship between oral caffeine dose and operant behavior was less systematic; the rats appeared to titrate their caffeine intake by reducing the consummatory response (drinking) rather than the appetitive response (lever pressing). These studies establish reliable volitional caffeine self-administration in rats. The reinforcement enhancing effects of caffeine may help to explain widespread caffeine use by humans, who ingest caffeine in complex vehicles with reinforcing properties.
Aversion for bitter taste reveals sexual differences in alimentation strategies in a praying mantis
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Animals avoid bitter food because it is usually specific to toxins (Glendinning, 1994). However, they still ingest bitter compounds (Skelhorn & Rowe, 2006) depending on their level of hunger (Barnett et al., 2007; Heppner, Kemble, & Cox, 1986). The size of prey (Halpin, Skelhorn, & Rowe, 2013) or their nutritional content (Halpin, Skelhorn, & Rowe, 2014) are also predominant factors affecting the ingestion of toxic prey: a toxic prey is more valuable when its nutritional content is higher.
Insects, as well as vertebrates, possess morphological, physiological and behavioural sexual dimorphisms. Because they are commonly bigger and produce eggs, female insects usually require more and specific energy intake. In addition to quantitative and qualitative requirements in food for reproduction, animals also have to avoid eating lethal toxins. The praying mantis Tenodera aridifolia is a good model to investigate sexual differences in feeding behaviour because its sexual dimorphism is marked in terms of morphology and behaviour. Here, we observed that females ate approximately four times as much prey as males. We then investigated the attacking and feeding behaviours of praying mantises by presenting mealworms injected with bitter solutions (quinine hydrochloride dihydrate or denatonium benzoate at 50 or 500 mM) as prey. We observed that males had a low level of acceptance for bitter prey: unlike females, they reduced consumption of mealworms injected with 50 mM of these bitter solutions. However, they showed higher motivation (unlike females, their rate of attack on prey increased when they reduced their consumption of mealworms). This difference in ingestion between the sexes did not seem to be due to different sensitivities for these bitter solutions (there was no detectable difference between the sexes in time taken to drink drops of these bitter solutions). Instead, this seems related to males and females having different feeding strategies based on different nutritive requirements. The possible effects of nutritional composition of prey on avoidance behaviours in predatory insects are discussed.
Sex differences and ovarian hormones in animal models of drug dependence
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Increasing evidence indicates the presence of sex differences in many aspects of drug abuse. Most studies reveal that females exceed males during the initiation, escalation, extinction, and reinstatement (relapse) of drug-seeking behavior, but males are more sensitive than females to the aversive effects of drugs such as drug withdrawal. Findings from human and animal research indicate that circulating levels of ovarian steroid hormones account for these sex differences. Estrogen (E) facilitates drug-seeking behavior, while progesterone (P) and its metabolite, allopregnanalone (ALLO), counteract the effects of E and reduce drug seeking. Estrogen and P influence other behaviors that are affiliated with drug abuse such as drug-induced locomotor sensitization and conditioned place preference. The enhanced vulnerability to drug seeking in females vs. males is also additive with the other risk factors for drug abuse (e.g., adolescence, sweet preference, novelty reactivity, and impulsivity). Finally, treatment studies using behavioral or pharmacological interventions, including P and ALLO, also indicate that females show greater treatment effectiveness during several phases of the addiction process. The neurobiological basis of sex differences in drug abuse appears to be genetic and involves the influence of ovarian hormones and their metabolites, the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis, dopamine (DA), and gamma-hydroxy-butyric acid (GABA). Overall, sex and hormonal status along with other biological risk factors account for a continuum of addiction-prone and -resistant animal models that are valuable for studying drug abuse prevention and treatment strategies.
Preferences of 14 rat strains for 17 taste compounds
2008, Physiology and Behavior
Citation Excerpt :
Alternatively, uncontrolled environmental factors may have greater effects on inbred than outbred strains. There have been many reports that preferences for taste compounds are higher in female than male rats [e.g., with NaCl [14,28,75], CaCl2[64,65,71], saccharin [53,89], quinine [53] but see [12,38,72,90]]. Thus, a puzzling aspect of the present results was that there were only two sex differences in taste preferences (with 100 mM saccharin and 316 mM MSG) out of 1526 comparisons.
Two-bottle choice tests were used to assess the taste preferences of 8 male and 8 female rats from 3 outbred strains (SD, LE, WI) and 11 inbred strains (BN, BUF, COP, DA, Dahl-S, F344, FHH, LEW, Noble, PVG, SHR). Each rat received a series of 109 48-h tests with a choice between water and a “taste solution”. Four to eight concentrations of the following compounds were tested: NaCl, CaCl₂, NH₄Cl, KCl, MgCl₂, saccharin, sucrose, ethanol, HCl, citric acid, quinine hydrochloride (QHCl), caffeine, denatonium, monosodium glutamate (MSG), Polycose, corn oil, and capsaicin. Strain differences (p < 0.001) were observed in preferences for at least one concentration of all compounds tested except denatonium (p = 0.0015). There were also strain differences in the following ancillary measures: fungiform papillae number, water intake, food intake, and body weight. There were sex differences in food intake and body weight but no concerted sex differences in any of the other measures, including preferences for any taste solution. This comprehensive source of information can be used to guide the choice of appropriate rat strains and taste solution concentrations for future genetic studies.
Preference for caffeine appears earlier in non-anxious than in anxious mice
2005, Neuroscience Letters
Caffeine has reinforcing and anxiogenic properties. We have investigated whether the anxiety level of mice may influence their caffeine consumption. In a population of CD1 mice, animals were selected as anxious and non-anxious, using the elevated plus maze and the light/dark box tests. After a period during which we made mice able to associate the central effect of caffeine with the pipette delivering this substance, animals had free access to solvent (solution of sodium benzoate) and one of caffeine (0.3 g/l) dissolved in this solvent. A progressive preference for the caffeine solution developed in both groups, but this occurred later in anxious than in non-anxious mice. Thus, it appears that the preference for caffeine is delayed in the anxious animals.
Sex differences in the vulnerability to drug abuse: A review of preclinical studies
2004, Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews
Clinical and preclinical findings indicate that males and females differ on several aspects of drug reinforcement. Females are more vulnerable than males during transition periods of drug use that are characteristic of drug addiction and relapse. Females are also more sensitive than males to the reinforcing effects of stimulants. It has been suggested that ovarian hormones contribute to the mechanisms of action underlying these sex differences. This review examines the preclinical literature on sex differences and ovarian hormonal influences on drug self-administration in animals. It summarizes the findings on the effects of these variables during different phases of drug addiction. Possible differences in the mechanisms of action of drugs of abuse due to interactions with sex differences or ovarian hormonal factors are considered. The animal literature on sex differences in drug abuse treatment effectiveness is also discussed.

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²: The authors would like to thank Dr. M.E. Carroll for her helpful comments on an earlier version of this report.

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Effects of food deprivation on caffeine consumption in male and female rats

Abstract

Horm Behav

Pharmacol Biochem Behav

Psychopharmacology (Berlin)

Pharmacol Biochem Behav

Pharmacol Biochem Behav

Behav Biol

Pharmacol Biochem Behav

Physiol Behav

Pharmacol Biochem Behav