Amiloride Disrupts NaCl Versus KCl Discrimination Performance: Implications for Salt Taste Coding in Rats

Amiloride, an epithelial sodium channel blocker, suppresses the responsiveness of narrowly tuned sodium-responsive taste afferents when orally applied in the rat. Broadly tuned salt-responsive taste afferents, which respond to sodium and nonsodium salts and acids, are relatively unaffected by the drug. We used amiloride treatment to examine the consequences of the specific removal of input from narrowly tuned sodium-responsive afferents on taste discrimination. Five water-restricted rats were trained in a gustometer to press one lever after licking NaCl and another lever after licking KCl across a range of concentrations (0.05, 0.1, and 0.2 M). Correct responses were rewarded with brief water access, and incorrect responses were punished with a time-out. After training, animals averaged about 90% correct responses and maintained competent performance during subsequent control sessions. Amiloride was then placed in all solutions at a given concentration (1-100 microM) for single test sessions. Control sessions were interposed between amiloride sessions. At high amiloride concentrations, overall responding was reduced to 50% correct and progressively improved as the drug concentration was lowered. The sigmoidal dose-response functions corresponded quantitatively with electrophysiological findings. Performance deficits occurred primarily with NaCl and were concentration dependent; performance during KCl trials was relatively undisturbed by amiloride adulteration. At high amiloride concentrations, rats treated NaCl as if it were KCl. Given that amiloride is tasteless to the rat, these results provide convincing evidence of the importance of narrowly tuned afferents in the discrimination between sodium and nonsodium salts and suggest that this is a general coding principle in the gustatory system.