Reidinger R F, Mason J R
Physiol Behav. 1986;37(6):925-31.
In Experiment 1, rats were conditioned to avoid saccharin in tapwater by pairing it with LiCl in carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) applied to the fur. Conditioned flavor avoidance (CFA) of saccharin was then assessed in drinking and grooming tests. In Experiment 2, rats were given saccharin CMC on their fur and NaCl in water (or vice-versa) as conditioned stimuli in a CFA paradigm. Two-choice tests (saccharin vs. NaCl) followed in drinking and grooming contexts. In Experiment 3, rats were given saccharin CMC on one flank and vehicle (CMC only) on the other. After grooming, animals were injected with LiCl and then given 2-choice tests, first between saccharin and water, then between saccharin-CMC and plain-CMC, and finally, between saccharin and water. Strong CFA was exhibited in drinking tests in all 3 experiments. This was not the case in grooming tests. Rats continued to groom when tastant was applied to only one flank (Experiment 1), and exhibited only weak CFA when a different tastant was applied to each flank (Experiments 2 and 3). We conclude that grooming can be directed to minimize the ingestion of noxious substances, but that such ingestion is not sufficiently reduced to affect the efficacy of grooming as a delivery method for unpalatable substances (e.g., rodenticides, chemosterilants). We speculate that grooming represents a weakness in rodents' defenses against dietary poisoning, and that it might be used to deliver toxicants as part of crop protection schemes that make use of CFA.
在实验1中，通过将糖精与涂抹在皮毛上的羧甲基纤维素（CMC）中的氯化锂配对，使大鼠形成避免饮用自来水中糖精的条件反射。然后在饮水和梳理测试中评估对糖精的条件性味觉回避（CFA）。在实验2中，在CFA范式下，给大鼠的皮毛涂抹糖精CMC并让其饮用含氯化钠的水（或反之）作为条件刺激。随后在饮水和梳理环境中进行二选一测试（糖精与氯化钠）。在实验3中，在大鼠的一侧胁腹涂抹糖精CMC，另一侧涂抹赋形剂（仅CMC）。梳理后，给动物注射氯化锂，然后进行二选一测试，首先是糖精与水之间的测试，接着是糖精 - CMC与普通CMC之间的测试，最后是糖精与水之间的测试。在所有3个实验的饮水测试中均表现出强烈的CFA。但在梳理测试中并非如此。当仅在一侧胁腹涂抹味觉剂时（实验1），大鼠会继续梳理，而当在两侧胁腹分别涂抹不同的味觉剂时（实验2和3），大鼠仅表现出微弱的CFA。我们得出结论，梳理行为可用于尽量减少有害物质的摄入，但这种摄入减少的程度不足以影响梳理作为难吃物质（如杀鼠剂、化学绝育剂）递送方式的效果。我们推测，梳理行为是啮齿动物饮食中毒防御机制中的一个弱点，并且在利用CFA的作物保护计划中，梳理行为可能被用于递送有毒物质。
