Avoidance of potentially harmful food cannot be socially transmitted between rats

Liang JING; Qi-Xin ZHOU; Lin XU

doi:10.13918/j.issn.2095-8137.2014.4.256

Volume 35 Issue 4

Jul. 2014

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Liang JING, Qi-Xin ZHOU, Lin XU. Avoidance of potentially harmful food cannot be socially transmitted between rats. Zoological Research, 2014, 35(4): 256-261. doi: 10.13918/j.issn.2095-8137.2014.4.256

Citation:

Liang JING, Qi-Xin ZHOU, Lin XU. Avoidance of potentially harmful food cannot be socially transmitted between rats. Zoological Research, 2014, 35(4): 256-261. doi: 10.13918/j.issn.2095-8137.2014.4.256

Avoidance of potentially harmful food cannot be socially transmitted between rats

doi: 10.13918/j.issn.2095-8137.2014.4.256

1.
Laboratory of Learning and Memory, Key Laboratory of Animal Models and Human Disease Mechanisms of the Chinese Academy of Sciences & Yunnan Province, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Kunming 650223, China;
2.
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China

Received Date: 2013-10-08
Rev Recd Date: 2013-11-10
Publish Date: 2014-07-08

Abstract

The social transmission of food preferences (STFP) is a behavioural task of olfactory memory, in which an observer rat learns safe food odours from a demonstrator rat, and shows preference for this odour in a subsequent choice test. However, previous studies have failed to detect the transmission of information about food of potential danger and food aversion using STFP test. In this study, we tested how demonstrators' health affects the exchange of odour information and whether observers can learn danger information from an unhealthy demonstrator. As expected, the observer rat formed an odour preference after interacting with a demonstrator rat that had just eaten food containing a new odour, however, odour preference rather than aversion was also formed after interacting with a demonstrator rat injected with LiCl (used to induce gastric malaise). Furthermore, anaesthetized demonstrator rats and half-anaesthetized demonstrator rats, which showed obvious motor deficits suggesting an unhealthy state, also socially transmitted food preferences to observers. These results suggest that the social transmission of food preferences task is independent of a demonstrators' health, and that information about dangerous foods cannot be transmitted using this behavioural task.
- Diet selection,
- Rats,
- Social learning,
- Social transmission of food preference,
- Food aversion

References

[1]	Ben-Ami Bartal I, Decety J, Mason P. 2011. Empathy and pro-social behavior in rats. Science, 334(6061): 1427-1430.
[2]	Birch LL. 1999. Development of food preferences. Annual Review of Nutrition, 19(1): 41-62.
[3]	Bures J, Bermúdez-Rattoni F, Yamamoto T. 1998. Conditioned Taste Aversion: Memory of A Special Kind. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[4]	Coombes S, Revusky S, Tong Lett B. 1980. Long-delay taste aversion learning in an unpoisoned rat: Exposure to a poisoned rat as the unconditioned stimulus. Learning and Motivation, 11(2): 256-266.
[5]	Galef BG Jr. 1982. Studies of social learning in Norway rats: a brief review. Developmental Psychobiology, 15(4): 279-295.
[6]	Galef BG Jr. 1985. Direct and indirect behavioral pathways to the social transmission of food avoidance. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 443: 203-215.
[7]	Galef BG Jr. 2003. Social learning of food preferences in rodents: rapid appetitive learning. Current protocols in neuroscience/editorial board, Jacqueline N. Crawley... [et al. ], Chapter 8: Unit 8. 5D.
[8]	Galef BG Jr, Clark MM. 1976. Non-nurturent functions of mother-young interaction in the agouti (Dasyprocta punctata). Behavioral Biology, 17(2): 255-262.
[9]	Galef BG Jr, Heiber L. 1976. Role of residual olfactory cues in the determination of feeding site selection and exploration patterns of domestic rats. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 90(8): 727-739.
[10]	Galef BG Jr, Dalrymple AJ. 1978. Active transmission of poison avoidance among rats? Behavioral Biology, 24(2): 265-271.
[11]	Galef BG, Jr, Mason JR, Preti G, Bean NJ. 1988. Carbon disulfide: a semiochemical mediating socially-induced diet choice in rats. Physiol Behav, 42(2): 119-124.
[12]	Galef BG Jr, Whiskin EE. 2000. Social influences on the amount of food eaten by Norway rats. Appetite, 34(3): 327-332.
[13]	Galef BG Jr, Whiskin EE. 2003. Socially transmitted food preferences can be used to study long-term memory in rats. Animal Learning & Behavior, 31(2): 160-164.
[14]	Galef BG Jr, Wigmore SW, Kennett DJ. 1983. A failure to find socially mediated taste aversion learning in Norway rats (R. norvegicus). Journal of Comparative Psychology, 97(4): 358-363.
[15]	Galef BG Jr, Kennett DJ, Stein M. 1985. Demonstrator influence on observer diet preference: Effects of simple exposure and the presence of a demonstrator. Animal Learning & Behavior, 13(1): 25-30.
[16]	Jeon D, Kim S, Chetana M, Jo D, Ruley HE, Lin SY, Rabah D, Kinet JP, Shin HS. 2010. Observational fear learning involves affective pain system and Cav1. 2 Ca2⁺ channels in ACC. Nature Neuroscience, 13(4): 482-488.
[17]	Langford DJ, Crager SE, Shehzad Z, Smith SB, Sotocinal SG, Levenstadt JS, Chanda ML, Levitin DJ, Mogil JS. 2006. Social modulation of pain as evidence for empathy in mice. Science, 312(5782): 1967-1970.
[18]	Mason JR, Reidinger RF. 1982. Observational learning of food aversions in red-winged blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus). The Auk, 99(3): 548-554.
[19]	Mason JR, Arzt AH, Reidinger RF. 1984. Comparative assessment of food preferences and aversions acquired by blackbirds via observational learning. The Auk, 101(4): 796-803.
[20]	Nachman M, Ashe JH. 1973. Learned taste aversions in rats as a function of dosage, concentration, and route of administration of LiCl. Physiology & Behavior, 10(1): 73-78.
[21]	Posadas-Andrews A, Roper TJ. 1983. Social transmission of food-preferences in adult rats. Animal Behaviour, 31(1): 265-271.
[22]	Rozin P. 1976. The selection of foods by rats, humans, and other animals. Advances in the Study of Behavior, 6: 21-76.
[23]	Thiele TE, Van Dijk G, Campfield LA, Smith FJ, Burn P, Woods SC, Bernstein IL, Seeley RJ. 1997. Central infusion of GLP-1, but not leptin, produces conditioned taste aversions in rats. American Journal of Physiology-Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, 272(2 Pt 2): R726-R730.

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通讯作者: 陈斌, bchen63@163.com

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沈阳化工大学材料科学与工程学院沈阳 110142

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Avoidance of potentially harmful food cannot be socially transmitted between rats

1. Laboratory of Learning and Memory, Key Laboratory of Animal Models and Human Disease Mechanisms of the Chinese Academy of Sciences & Yunnan Province, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Kunming 650223, China;

2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China

Received Date: 2013-10-08

Rev Recd Date: 2013-11-10

Publish Date: 2014-07-08

Key words:

Diet selection /
Rats /
Social learning /
Social transmission of food preference /
Food aversion

Abstract: The social transmission of food preferences (STFP) is a behavioural task of olfactory memory, in which an observer rat learns safe food odours from a demonstrator rat, and shows preference for this odour in a subsequent choice test. However, previous studies have failed to detect the transmission of information about food of potential danger and food aversion using STFP test. In this study, we tested how demonstrators' health affects the exchange of odour information and whether observers can learn danger information from an unhealthy demonstrator. As expected, the observer rat formed an odour preference after interacting with a demonstrator rat that had just eaten food containing a new odour, however, odour preference rather than aversion was also formed after interacting with a demonstrator rat injected with LiCl (used to induce gastric malaise). Furthermore, anaesthetized demonstrator rats and half-anaesthetized demonstrator rats, which showed obvious motor deficits suggesting an unhealthy state, also socially transmitted food preferences to observers. These results suggest that the social transmission of food preferences task is independent of a demonstrators' health, and that information about dangerous foods cannot be transmitted using this behavioural task.

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Reference (23)

[1]	Ben-Ami Bartal I, Decety J, Mason P. 2011. Empathy and pro-social behavior in rats. Science, 334(6061): 1427-1430.
[2]	Birch LL. 1999. Development of food preferences. Annual Review of Nutrition, 19(1): 41-62.
[3]	Bures J, Bermúdez-Rattoni F, Yamamoto T. 1998. Conditioned Taste Aversion: Memory of A Special Kind. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[4]	Coombes S, Revusky S, Tong Lett B. 1980. Long-delay taste aversion learning in an unpoisoned rat: Exposure to a poisoned rat as the unconditioned stimulus. Learning and Motivation, 11(2): 256-266.
[5]	Galef BG Jr. 1982. Studies of social learning in Norway rats: a brief review. Developmental Psychobiology, 15(4): 279-295.
[6]	Galef BG Jr. 1985. Direct and indirect behavioral pathways to the social transmission of food avoidance. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 443: 203-215.
[7]	Galef BG Jr. 2003. Social learning of food preferences in rodents: rapid appetitive learning. Current protocols in neuroscience/editorial board, Jacqueline N. Crawley... [et al. ], Chapter 8: Unit 8. 5D.
[8]	Galef BG Jr, Clark MM. 1976. Non-nurturent functions of mother-young interaction in the agouti (Dasyprocta punctata). Behavioral Biology, 17(2): 255-262.
[9]	Galef BG Jr, Heiber L. 1976. Role of residual olfactory cues in the determination of feeding site selection and exploration patterns of domestic rats. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 90(8): 727-739.
[10]	Galef BG Jr, Dalrymple AJ. 1978. Active transmission of poison avoidance among rats? Behavioral Biology, 24(2): 265-271.
[11]	Galef BG, Jr, Mason JR, Preti G, Bean NJ. 1988. Carbon disulfide: a semiochemical mediating socially-induced diet choice in rats. Physiol Behav, 42(2): 119-124.
[12]	Galef BG Jr, Whiskin EE. 2000. Social influences on the amount of food eaten by Norway rats. Appetite, 34(3): 327-332.
[13]	Galef BG Jr, Whiskin EE. 2003. Socially transmitted food preferences can be used to study long-term memory in rats. Animal Learning & Behavior, 31(2): 160-164.
[14]	Galef BG Jr, Wigmore SW, Kennett DJ. 1983. A failure to find socially mediated taste aversion learning in Norway rats (R. norvegicus). Journal of Comparative Psychology, 97(4): 358-363.
[15]	Galef BG Jr, Kennett DJ, Stein M. 1985. Demonstrator influence on observer diet preference: Effects of simple exposure and the presence of a demonstrator. Animal Learning & Behavior, 13(1): 25-30.
[16]	Jeon D, Kim S, Chetana M, Jo D, Ruley HE, Lin SY, Rabah D, Kinet JP, Shin HS. 2010. Observational fear learning involves affective pain system and Cav1. 2 Ca2⁺ channels in ACC. Nature Neuroscience, 13(4): 482-488.
[17]	Langford DJ, Crager SE, Shehzad Z, Smith SB, Sotocinal SG, Levenstadt JS, Chanda ML, Levitin DJ, Mogil JS. 2006. Social modulation of pain as evidence for empathy in mice. Science, 312(5782): 1967-1970.
[18]	Mason JR, Reidinger RF. 1982. Observational learning of food aversions in red-winged blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus). The Auk, 99(3): 548-554.
[19]	Mason JR, Arzt AH, Reidinger RF. 1984. Comparative assessment of food preferences and aversions acquired by blackbirds via observational learning. The Auk, 101(4): 796-803.
[20]	Nachman M, Ashe JH. 1973. Learned taste aversions in rats as a function of dosage, concentration, and route of administration of LiCl. Physiology & Behavior, 10(1): 73-78.
[21]	Posadas-Andrews A, Roper TJ. 1983. Social transmission of food-preferences in adult rats. Animal Behaviour, 31(1): 265-271.
[22]	Rozin P. 1976. The selection of foods by rats, humans, and other animals. Advances in the Study of Behavior, 6: 21-76.
[23]	Thiele TE, Van Dijk G, Campfield LA, Smith FJ, Burn P, Woods SC, Bernstein IL, Seeley RJ. 1997. Central infusion of GLP-1, but not leptin, produces conditioned taste aversions in rats. American Journal of Physiology-Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, 272(2 Pt 2): R726-R730.

Avoidance of potentially harmful food cannot be socially transmitted between rats

doi: 10.13918/j.issn.2095-8137.2014.4.256

Abstract

References

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通讯作者: 陈斌, bchen63@163.com

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