Abstract
Recently, we demonstrated that zinc deficient rats enhanced their preference to high concentration of sodium chloride. In the present study, we conducted behavioral experiments to investigate whether or not calcium deficient rats (CaX) also enhanced their preference to sodium chloride. Results were as follows; in the long-term (48 h) two-bottle preference test, the preference percents for 0.3 and 1.0M NaCl in the CaX rats were higher than those in the control rats. But in the short-term (10 min) test, there was no significant difference in the preference percents between CaX and control rats. When the CaX rats transected the chorda tympani and glossopharyngeal nerves were used for long-term two-bottle preference test, there was no significant difference between the preference percents for 0.3 and 1.0M NaCl in the CaX and the sham rats. These results suggest that the enhancement of preference for sodium chloride is caused by the post-ingestive effect rather than taste effect. [J Physiol Sci. 2008;58 Suppl:S104]
