Abstract
Conducted 5 experiments with male Sprague-Dawley-derived rats (N = 123). Saccharin ingestion potentiated insulin-induced mortality, and this potentiating effect could be accounted for by the hypothesis that the taste of saccharin elicits hypoglycemia as a CR. Saccharin ingestion alone produced hypoglycemia in the same experiemtal context. As predicted by the conditioning hypothesis, long-term access to saccharin extinguished the hypoglycemic response. The hypoglycemic response could be elicited by stimuli, either gustatory or olfactory, which were paired with intragastric glucose administration. Results support the conditioning account of the potentiating effect of saccharin on insulin-induced mortality and suggest that hypoglycemia occurs as a CR in anticipation of feeding. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)