Hall W G
Appetite. 1985 Dec;6(4):333-56. doi: 10.1016/s0195-6663(85)80003-9.
Because suckling behavior differs in many ways from later ingestive behavior, the development of feeding and drinking in rats is best studied apart from the normal suckling situation. Newborn rat pups, separated from their mothers, will actively ingest diet infused into their mouths or spread on the floor beneath them. Such "independent" ingestion resembles the ingestive behavior of adult animals, but it also undergoes developmental changes in organization and control during the pre- and post-weaning periods: When young, deprived pups are fed, they show generalized, non-directed behavioral excitement; but with increasing age, this generalized responding matures into directed and focused ingestive activity. Early independent ingestion depends on a warm test environment; but with development, other familiar environmental and social cues come to influence responding. The internal controls of ingestion also change. Only gastric distension and hydrational status seem to be involved in controlling intake volume during early ingestion, with other ingestive controls emerging later in development. Thus ingestion, independent of suckling from the mother, is a system undergoing revealing developmental changes. These changes offer opportunities for studying ingestion, its controls, and its neural basis at its simplest organizational stage in the newborn, and at higher levels of complexity as maturation adds new components to the feeding system.
由于吮乳行为在许多方面与之后的摄食行为不同，因此对大鼠进食和饮水行为的研究最好在正常吮乳情况之外进行。与母亲分离的新生大鼠幼崽会主动摄取注入其口中或撒在其下方地板上的食物。这种“独立”摄食类似于成年动物的摄食行为，但在断奶前后的时期，其在组织和控制方面也会经历发育变化：幼小时，剥夺母乳的幼崽进食时会表现出全身性、无定向的行为兴奋；但随着年龄增长，这种全身性反应会成熟为定向且集中的摄食活动。早期的独立摄食依赖于温暖的测试环境；但随着发育，其他熟悉的环境和社会线索开始影响反应。摄食的内部控制也会发生变化。在早期摄食过程中，似乎只有胃扩张和水合状态参与控制摄入量，其他摄食控制在发育后期才会出现。因此，独立于从母亲处吮乳的摄食是一个正在经历显著发育变化的系统。这些变化为在新生儿最简单的组织阶段研究摄食、其控制及其神经基础提供了机会，并且随着成熟为进食系统增添新的组成部分，也为在更高的复杂程度上进行研究提供了机会。
