Journal of Addiction Research & Therapy
Open Access

Research Article

Effects of Perinatal 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-P-Dioxin Exposure on Development of Taste Preference in Rat Offspring

¹Department of Public Health, Kanazawa Medical University, Uchinada, 920-0293, Japan

²System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine, University of Toyama, Toyama, 930-0194, Japan

³Frontier Research Laboratories, Institute for innovation, Ajinomoto Co., Inc., Kawasaki, 210-8681, Japan

*Corresponding Author:

Nishijo M
Department of Public Health, Kanazawa Medical University
1-1, Daigaku, Uchinada, Ishikawa 920-0293, Japan
Tel: +81-76-286-2211
Fax: +81-76-286-3728
E-mail: ni-koei@kanazawa-med.ac.jp

Received date: December 30, 2013; Accepted date: February 07, 2014; Published date: February 14, 2014

Citation: Nishijo M, Tran NN, Nakagawa H, Hori E, Torii K, et al. (2014) Effects of Perinatal 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-P-Dioxin Exposure on Development of Taste Preference in Rat Offspring. J Addict Res Ther 5:173. doi:10.4172/2155-6105.1000173

Copyright: © 2014 Nishijo M, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Perinatal 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-P-Dioxin (TCDD) exposure affects various motivated behaviors controlled by limbic system of the brain in offspring. In this study, effects of perinatal TCDD exposure on taste preference were investigated in the rat offspring whose dams were orally exposed to TCDD on the 15 gestational days. After weaning, offspring were given free access to six amino acid solutions with different tastes (sweet, umami, or bitter), saline (salty taste), and distilled water in a choice paradigm. In the TCDD exposed males, daily food intake was significantly decreased on Postnatal Day (P.D.) 33, whereas no differences of total fluid and any kind of solution intake were found between TCDD exposure and control groups in males. In the exposed females, daily intake of MSG was significantly lower on P.D. 32-34 respectively. Moreover, mean MSG intake rates during P.D. 29-35 was significantly decreased in TCDD exposure females. These results suggest that the TCDD-exposed females need less protein than the control females because of poorer growth than the control females, because MSG has “umami” taste, which reflects preference protein intake. In contrast, daily histidine intake on P.D. 34 was significantly increased in TCDD exposed females, and mean lysine intake rate during PND 29-35 was significantly higher than that of control group. These results suggest that rats preferred bitter taste of histidine and lysine solutions under the chemical stress of TCDD exposure. In conclusion, perinatal TCDD exposure affected development of taste preference of offspring female rats, and more study to clarify neural mechanisms is necessary in future.

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