DA Salty Kool-Aid Preference

Purpose

To see if rats show an unconditioned preference for salty Kool-Aid vs. unsalted Kool-Aid

Agenda

n=12 rats

Control group (n=4): one bottle of cherry kool-aid with saccharin, and one-bottle of grape kool-aid with saccharin, to make sure rats don't have an innate preference for cherry over grape. Predict equal intake of both kool-aids (maybe a little more grape).

Salt group (n=4): one bottle of cherry kool-aid with saccharin and 0.75 mM NaCl, and one-bottle of grape kool-aid with saccharin

Positive Control group (n=4): one bottle of cherry kool-aid with hi saccharin (0.2%) , and one-bottle of grape kool-aid with saccharin Predict rats will consume more cherry kool-aid, and form a preference for cherry over grape.

Test: 48-h access to the two solutions.

Thursday Jan 28th: give rats 2 bottles overnight; weigh before and after (friday) to measure consumption

Friday Jan 29: reverse position of bottles, give access overnight, weigh before and after (saturday).

Solutions

Base solution: 0.05% saccharin, 0.05% Kool-Aid [2 g saccharin, 2g Kool-Aid in 4 liters ]

Salty Kool-Aid: 0.05% saccharin, 0.05% Kool-Aid, 0.45% NaCl [2 g saccharin, 2g Kool-Aid, 18g NaCl in 4 liters]

Sweeter Kool-Aid: 0.2% saccharin, 0.05% Kool-Aid [8 g saccharin, 2g Kool-Aid in 4 liters ]