T1r3 taste receptor involvement in gustatory neural responses to ethanol and oral ethanol preference.

ABSTRACT: Elevated alcohol consumption is associated with enhanced preference for sweet substances across species and may be mediated by oral alcohol-induced activation of neurobiological substrates for sweet taste. Here, we directly examined the contribution of the T1r3 receptor protein, important for sweet taste detection in mammals, to ethanol intake and preference and the neural processing of ethanol taste by measuring behavioral and central neurophysiological responses to oral alcohol in T1r3 receptor-deficient mice and their C57BL/6J background strain. T1r3 knockout and wild-type mice were tested in behavioral preference assays for long-term voluntary intake of a broad concentration range of ethanol, sucrose, and quinine. For neurophysiological experiments, separate groups of mice of each geno

SUBMITTER: Brasser SM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2869103 | biostudies-literature | 2010 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature