Functional brain networks underlying latent inhibition of conditioned disgust in rats

• Nonreinforced exposure attenuates the establishment of nausea-induced conditioned disgust.
• Decreased CO activity in the PBN, VTA, BLA, BNET, and PFC associated with taste-nausea parings.
• Exaggerated PBN metabolic activity decrease associated with latent inhibition in CTA.
• Novel activation patterns of brain networks involved in the processing of the hedonic value of flavors were described.
• Accumbens-amygdala interaction plays a role in processing taste hedonic value.

The present experiment examined the neuronal networks involved in the latent inhibition of conditioned disgust by measuring brain oxidative metabolism. Rats were given nonreinforced intraoral (IO) exposure to saccharin (exposed groups) or water (non-exposed groups) followed by a conditioning trial in which the animals received an infusion of saccharin paired (or unpaired) with LiCl. On testing, taste reactivity responses displayed by the rats during the infusion of the saccharin were examined. Behavioral data showed that preexposure to saccharin attenuated the development of LiCl-induced conditioned disgust reactions, indicating that the effects of taste aversion on hedonic taste reactivity had been reduced. With respect to cumulative oxidative metabolic activity across the whole study period, the parabrachial nucleus was the only single region examined which showed differential activity between groups which received saccharin-LiCl pairings with and without prior non-reinforced saccharin exposure, suggesting a key role in the effects of latent inhibition of taste aversion learning. In addition, many functional connections between brain regions were revealed through correlational analysis of metabolic activity, in particular an accumbens-amygdala interaction that may be involved in both positive and negative hedonic responses.