The role of nausea in taste avoidance learning in rats and shrews

When paired with a novel flavoured solution, the injection of an emetic drug, such as lithium chloride, produces avoidance of that solution in both non-emetic rats and in emetic shrews. On the other hand, the pairing of a novel flavour with a drug with rewarding properties results in conditioned taste avoidance in rats, but in conditioned taste preference in shrews. It, therefore, appears that nausea may be necessary for the establishment of conditioned taste avoidance in the emetic shrew, but not in the non-emetic rat. Indeed, pre-treatment with the anti-emetic agents, ondansetron or Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol, interferes with the establishment of lithium-induced conditioned taste avoidance in the shrew, but does not even attenuate the establishment of lithium-induced conditioned taste avoidance in the rat. The results of a number of studies suggest that the nature of flavour–drug associations varies on the basis of the emetic capacity of the species.