Short-term salt preference of potassium-deprived rats

¹ Department of Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Short-term selection of salts was studied in young rats maintained on a potassium-free diet. When offered a choice between a KCl solution and one of five NaCl solutions, these animals showed a greater preference than controls for four of the five NaCl solutions. Moreover, they preferred the NaCl solutions over the KCl solution for four of the five concentrations of NaCl tested. Control animals preferred NaCl over KCl at only one of the NaCl concentrations. The initial choice of NaCl by the potassium-deprived rats is, by definition, independent of taste and postingestional factors, and is in part, perhaps, under the control of olfactory stimuli emanating from the salt solutions. The preference for NaCl over KCl was diminished by maintaining potassium-deficient rats on a diet high in sodium content. It was tentatively concluded that the increased preference for NaCl by rats fed diets low in potassium content but adequate in all other respects reflected an increased utilization of sodium.

Key Words: potassium • sodium • preference • olfaction • taste

Submitted on November 24, 1964

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