| Abstract: | The relationship between obesity and taste, especially sweettaste, has been and is of interest. From this point of viewof a small primate, the lesser mouse lemur (Microcebus murinus),is of particular interest. It goes through a yearly cycle ofphysiological changes, one of which is an extreme variationin body weight of up to 100%. This occurs concomitantly withsignificant changes of the animal's liking for sucrose; measuredby two-bottle preference tests, the threshold for sucrose changesfrom 28–45 in lean to 77–105 mM in obese animals.It is possible that a change in peripheral taste sensitivitymight be the cause for these preference changes. To test thispossibility we studied the ability of M.murinus to taste sucrosewith electrophysiological and conditioned taste aversion techniques.The electrophysiological recordings were obtained from the chordatympani proper nerve in two heavy and three lean animals. Wedid not record any difference between the two groups in theirneural response to a series of sucrose concentrations. Conditionedtaste aversion experiments with 200 mM sucrose as conditioningstimulus and 50 and 200 mM sucrose as test stimuli gave similarresults. No difference was found between three heavy and fourlean animals; both groups rejected the sucrose concentrations.The results support the notion that the seasonal variationsin preference threshold to sucrose were unrelated to the abilityof M.murinus to taste sucrose. |
