Ethanol-induced conditioned taste aversion in the rat: effects of 5,7-dihydroxytryptamine lesion of the dorsal raphe nucleus

Piasecki, Jerzy; Bienkowski, Przemyslaw; Dudek, Krzysztof; Koros, Eliza; Kostowski, Wojciech

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Volume 24, Issue 1 , Pages 9-14, May 2001

Ethanol-induced conditioned taste aversion in the rat: effects of 5,7-dihydroxytryptamine lesion of the dorsal raphe nucleus

Jerzy Piasecki
- Department of Pharmacology and Physiology of the Nervous System, Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology, ul. Sobieskiego 1/9, PL-02957, Warsaw, Poland
Przemyslaw Bienkowski
- Department of Pharmacology and Physiology of the Nervous System, Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology, ul. Sobieskiego 1/9, PL-02957, Warsaw, Poland
Krzysztof Dudek
- Department of Pharmacology and Physiology of the Nervous System, Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology, ul. Sobieskiego 1/9, PL-02957, Warsaw, Poland
- Department of Surgery, Warsaw Medical University, 02-971 Warsaw, Poland
Eliza Koros
- Department of Pharmacology and Physiology of the Nervous System, Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology, ul. Sobieskiego 1/9, PL-02957, Warsaw, Poland
Wojciech Kostowski
- Department of Pharmacology and Physiology of the Nervous System, Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology, ul. Sobieskiego 1/9, PL-02957, Warsaw, Poland
- Department of Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology, Warsaw Medical University, 00-572Warsaw, Poland
- Corresponding author. Department of Pharmacology and Physiology of the Nervous System, Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology, ul. Sobieskiego 1/9, PL-02957, Warsaw, Poland. Tel.: +48-22-842-76-44; fax: +48-22-642-53-75

Received 9 May 2000; received in revised form 2 January 2001; accepted 26 January 2001.

Abstract

The effects of lesions of 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) neurons in the dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN) on ethanol-induced conditioned taste aversion were studied in male Wistar rats. Biochemical analysis revealed that a serotonergic neurotoxin, 5,7-dihydroxytryptamine (5,7-DHT), infused into the DRN produced selective depletion of serotonin (i.e., 5-HT) in the frontal cortex and striatum. Conditioned taste aversion to saccharin solution induced by 2 g/kg of ethanol was not affected by the lesion. In contrast, aversion conditioning produced by a lower dose of ethanol (1 g/kg) was slightly but significantly attenuated by the 5,7-DHT administration. Taken together with our previous observations, the results of the present study may indicate that central serotonergic projections do not have a primary role in the aversive effects of high doses of ethanol (>1 g/kg) in the rat. On the other hand, it seems that serotonergic neurons of the DRN may play some modulatory role in the formation of the aversive-stimulus properties of moderate doses of ethanol.

Keywords: Ethanol, Serotonin (5-HT), Raphe, Conditioned taste aversion, Rat