Response to NaCl taste in mixture with sucrose by sodium deficient rats.

Sodium deficient, adrenalectomized rats and nondeficient control rats were offered, for 20 min, either a mixture of 0.15 M sodium chloride and 0.3 M sucrose, or a 0.3 M sucrose solution. The sodium deficient rats drank about 3 times more of the mixture than of the sucrose alone. Nondeficient control animals showed no differential preference for the mixture over the sucrose solution. Subsequent tests indicated that the amount of mixture ingested by the sodium deficient group was comparable to the intake of a much weaker (1/5 as strong) sodium chloride concentration given alone. These results are discussed in the context of taste component analysis of mixtures and suggest that the rodent taste system can specifically respond to sodium chloride in a sodium chloride-sucrose mixture.