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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

New Body Mass Estimates For Canis Dirus, The Extinct Pleistocene Dire Wolf, William Anyonge, Christopher Roman Mar 2016

New Body Mass Estimates For Canis Dirus, The Extinct Pleistocene Dire Wolf, William Anyonge, Christopher Roman

Christopher Roman

Quantitative study of the body mass of Canis dirus. Results indicate a mean body mass comparable to the extant gray wolf, suggesting larger individual animals probably exceed the body mass range of extant gray wolves.


Insular Cortex Lesions And Morphine-Induced Suppression Of Conditioned Stimulus Intake In The Rat, Christopher T. Roman, Steve Reilly Mar 2016

Insular Cortex Lesions And Morphine-Induced Suppression Of Conditioned Stimulus Intake In The Rat, Christopher T. Roman, Steve Reilly

Christopher Roman

The present experiment examined the influence of insular cortex (IC) lesions on the intake of a taste stimulus in a consummatory procedure that used morphine as the unconditioned stimulus. In normal rats, morphine caused a rapid reduction in saccharin intake when the taste was novel but not when it was familiar. Irrespective of stimulus novelty, morphine had little influence on the saccharin consumption of IC-lesioned rats. The results are discussed in terms of a lesion-induced disruption of (i) a reward comparison mechanism and (ii) the perception of taste novelty.


Taste, Olfactory And Trigeminal Neophobia In Rats With Forebrain Lesions, Jian-You Lin, Christopher T. Roman, Justin St. Andre, Steve Reilly Mar 2016

Taste, Olfactory And Trigeminal Neophobia In Rats With Forebrain Lesions, Jian-You Lin, Christopher T. Roman, Justin St. Andre, Steve Reilly

Christopher Roman

The present study was designed to examine whether lesions of the insular cortex (IC; Experiment 1), the basolateral amygdala (BLA) or medial amygdala (MeA; Experiment 2) influence the neophobic reactions to orally consumed liquid stimuli. Three different types of stimuli were used: taste (0.5% saccharin), olfactory (0.1% amyl acetate), and trigeminal (0.01 mM capsaicin). Rats with IC, BLA and MeA lesions showed normal responses to the olfactory and trigeminal stimuli. Each type of lesion, however, disrupted the initial occurrence of neophobia to the taste stimulus. The significance of these findings to conditioned taste aversion is discussed.


Effects Of Lesions Of The Bed Nucleus Of The Stria Terminalis, Laterual Hypothalamus, Or Insular Cortex On Conditioned Taste Aversion And Conditioned Odor Aversion, Christopher T. Roman, Nino Nebieridze, Aristides Sastre, Steve Reilly Mar 2016

Effects Of Lesions Of The Bed Nucleus Of The Stria Terminalis, Laterual Hypothalamus, Or Insular Cortex On Conditioned Taste Aversion And Conditioned Odor Aversion, Christopher T. Roman, Nino Nebieridze, Aristides Sastre, Steve Reilly

Christopher Roman

The effects of permanent forebrain lesions on conditioned taste aversions (CTAs) and conditioned odor aversions (COAs) were examined in 3 experiments. In Experiment 1, lesions of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis had no influence on CTA or COA acquisition. Although lesions of the lateral hypothalamus induced severe hypodipsia in Experiment 2, they did not prevent the acquisition of CTAs or COAs. Finally, in Experiment 3, lesions of the insular cortex retarded CTA acquisition but had no influence on COA acquisition. The implications of these findings are discussed with regard to the forebrain influence on parabrachial nucleus function during …


Taste-Potentiated Odor Aversion Learning In Rats With Lesions Of The Insular Cortex, Jian-You Lin, Christopher T. Roman, Steve Reilly Mar 2016

Taste-Potentiated Odor Aversion Learning In Rats With Lesions Of The Insular Cortex, Jian-You Lin, Christopher T. Roman, Steve Reilly

Christopher Roman

The current study assessed the influence of excitotoxic lesions of the insular cortex (IC) on tastepotentiated odor aversion (TPOA) learning. Water-deprived rats initially received a single odortoxicosis or odor/taste-toxicosis pairing and were subsequently tested, in separate trials, with the odor and the taste stimulus. Indicating TPOA, neurologically intact rats conditioned with the odor/taste compound stimulus acquired significantly stronger odor aversions than normal rats conditioned with the odor stimulus. IC lesions disrupted TPOA, conditioned taste aversion and taste neophobia. The finding that taste did not potentiate odor aversion learning in the IC lesioned rats provides support for the “within-compound association” analysis …


Taste Neophobia And C-Fos Expression In The Rat Brain, Jian-You Lin, Christopher T. Roman, Joe Arthurs, Steve Reilly Mar 2016

Taste Neophobia And C-Fos Expression In The Rat Brain, Jian-You Lin, Christopher T. Roman, Joe Arthurs, Steve Reilly

Christopher Roman

Taste neophobia refers to a reduction in consumption of a novel taste relative to when it is familiar. To gain more understanding of the neural basis of this phenomenon, the current study examined whether a novel taste (0.5% saccharin) supports a different pattern of c-Fos expression than the same taste when it is familiar. Results revealed that the taste of the novel saccharin solution evoked more Fos immunoreactivity than the familiar taste of saccharin in the basolateral region of the amygdala, central nucleus of the amygdala, gustatory portion of the thalamus, and the gustatory insular cortex. No such differential expression …


Effects Of Insular Cortex Lesions On Conditioned Taste Aversion And Latent Inhibition In The Rat, Christopher T. Roman, Steve Reilly Mar 2016

Effects Of Insular Cortex Lesions On Conditioned Taste Aversion And Latent Inhibition In The Rat, Christopher T. Roman, Steve Reilly

Christopher Roman

The present study tested the hypothesis that lesions of the insular cortex of the rat retard the acquisition of conditioned taste aversions (CTAs) because of an impairment in the detection of the novelty of taste stimuli. Demonstrating the expected latent inhibition effect, nonlesioned control subjects acquired CTAs more rapidly when the conditioned stimulus (0.15% sodium saccharin) was novel rather than familiar (achieved by pre-exposure to the to-be-conditioned taste cue). However, rats with insular cortex lesions acquired taste aversions at the same slow rate regardless of whether the saccharin was novel or familiar. The pattern of behavioural deficits obtained cannot be …


Morphine-Induced Suppression Of Conditioned Stimulus Intake: Effects Of Stimulus Type And Insular Cortex Lesions, Jian-You Lin, Christopher T. Roman, Steve Reilly Mar 2016

Morphine-Induced Suppression Of Conditioned Stimulus Intake: Effects Of Stimulus Type And Insular Cortex Lesions, Jian-You Lin, Christopher T. Roman, Steve Reilly

Christopher Roman

Intake of an unconditionally preferred taste stimulus (e.g., saccharin) is reduced by contingent administration of a drug of abuse (e.g., morphine). We examined the influence of insular cortex (IC) lesions on morphine-induced suppression of an olfactory cue and two taste stimuli with different levels of perceived innate reward value. Two major findings emerged from this study. First, morphine suppressed intake of an aqueous odor as well as each taste stimulus in neurologically intact rats. Second, IC lesions disrupted morphine-induced suppression of the taste stimuli but not the aqueous odor cue. These results indicate that the perceived innate reward value of …


Body Mass And Feeding Behaviour In The Extinct Pleistocene Dire Wolf, Canis Dirus, Christopher Roman Mar 2016

Body Mass And Feeding Behaviour In The Extinct Pleistocene Dire Wolf, Canis Dirus, Christopher Roman

Christopher Roman

Published abstract of paper presented at the Sixty-Third Annual Meeting Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Science Museum of Minnesota St. Paul, Minnesota October 15-18, 2003.


Basolateral Amygdala And Morphine-Induced Taste Avoidance In The Rat, Jamie Lovaglio, Jian-You Lin, Christopher T. Roman, Steve Reilly Mar 2016

Basolateral Amygdala And Morphine-Induced Taste Avoidance In The Rat, Jamie Lovaglio, Jian-You Lin, Christopher T. Roman, Steve Reilly

Christopher Roman

The present experiment examined the influence of excitotoxic lesions of the basolateral amygdala (BLA) on morphine-induced saccharin avoidance. Neurologically intact subjects rapidly learned to avoid drinking the taste conditioned stimulus (CS), an effect that was sustained throughout the experiment. Although the BLA-lesioned (BLAX) rats showed CS avoidance over the first few trials, the effect was not sustained. That is, by the end of the experiment, the BLAX rats were drinking the same amount of saccharin after seven saccharin-morphine trials as they did on the first trial (i.e., prior to the morphine injections). Potential interpretations of the results are discussed including …


Conditioned Taste Aversion And Latent Inhibition Following Extensive Taste Preexposure In Rats With Insular Cortex Lesions, Christopher T. Roman, Jian-You Lin, Steve Reilly Mar 2016

Conditioned Taste Aversion And Latent Inhibition Following Extensive Taste Preexposure In Rats With Insular Cortex Lesions, Christopher T. Roman, Jian-You Lin, Steve Reilly

Christopher Roman

Lesions of the insular cortex (IC) attenuate acquisition of conditioned taste aversions (CTAs). We have suggested that this impairment is the expected consequence of a failure of IC-lesioned (ICX) rats to recognize unfamiliar taste stimuli as novel. That is, ICX rats treat novel taste stimuli as if they are familiar and as a result show a latent inhibition-like retardation of learning. This account anticipates that ICX rats should acquire CTAs at the same slow rate as normal rats that are familiar with the taste stimulus. The present experiment confirmed this hypothesis in a design that compared CTA acquisition in normal …