Role of illness in producing learned taste aversions in rats: a comparison of several rodenticides.

Several toxic agents were compared in order to test the effect of various types of illness in producing learned taste aversions. After a 10-min sucrose drinking trial, groups of rats were injected intraperitoneally with lithium chloride or with a strong, near lethal dose of a rodenticide. Strong sucrose aversions were acquired by groups injected with lithium chloride, copper sulfate, sodium fluoroacetate, or red squill, and very weak or no aversions were learned by groups injected with thallium, warfarin cyanide, or strychnine. The results were discussed in terms of onset of symptoms, duration of symptoms, and kinds of physiological effects necessary to produce aversions. It was concluded that the effects of different drugs may be mediated by different physiological systems learned taste aversions.