Chronic lithium administration to rodents is used to explore the potential neural mechanisms of mood stabilization, as well as to model the side effects of chronic lithium on multiple organ systems. Oral administration of lithium in the maintenance diet or drinking water is convenient, but lithium can acutely affect intake and it can mediate acquisition of conditioned taste aversions (CTA). We compared ad libitum food and fluid intake by male rats with LiCl or NaCl solutions as their sole source of fluid across 20 days, with a commonly used dosage of LiCl (24 mM: 1 g / L LiCl). To quantify the pattern of intake, rats were housed in cages equipped with lickometers to detect licks and infrared photobeams to detect food access with 6-s resolution. To determine if rats formed a CTA to LiCl, they were subsequently tested with access to NaCl. Rats showed an immediate avoidance of the LiCl solution, as seen on the first day of access by an increased latency to initiate drinking and a decreased size of drinking bouts. Rats showed a differential response to LiCl vs. NaCl after as few as 5 licks. Chronic consumption of LiCl solution led to significantly decreased food and fluid intake compared to baseline, with concomitant weight loss. The decreased intake was realized by marked changes in the pattern of drinking and feeding bouts: a decrease in per-lick volume and a decrease in licks per drinking bout, and an increase in feeding bout duration resulting in an overall decrease in eating rate. Conversely, chronic NaCl access led to an increase in drinking bout number and licks/bout. The avoidance of LiCl was likely a combination of toxic effects of ingested LiCl and rapid acquisition of a learned aversion to the taste of LiCl, as shown by an extinguishable generalized aversion to NaCl solution during subsequent NaCl test days. The marked effect of chronic oral LiCl on ingestion may impact the oral dosing of lithium as well as the rat's metabolic status.

对啮齿动物进行长期锂给药，用于探索稳定情绪的潜在神经机制，以及模拟长期锂对多个器官系统的副作用。在维持饮食或饮用水中口服锂很方便，但锂会严重影响摄入量，并且会介导条件性味觉厌恶（CTA）的获得。我们比较了雄性大鼠在 20 天内以氯化锂或氯化钠溶液作为唯一液体来源的随意食物和液体摄入量，以及常用剂量的氯化锂（24 mM：1 g/L LiCl）。为了量化摄入模式，将大鼠关在装有舔液计的笼子里，以检测舔液，并用红外光束以 6 秒的分辨率检测食物的获取情况。为了确定大鼠是否与 LiCl 形成 CTA，随后对它们进行了接触 NaCl 的测试。大鼠立即表现出对 LiCl 溶液的回避，如在接触的第一天所见，开始饮酒的潜伏期延长且饮酒次数减少。仅仅舔了 5 次后，大鼠就对 LiCl 和 NaCl 表现出了不同的反应。与基线相比，长期消耗氯化锂溶液导致食物和液体摄入量显着减少，并伴随体重减轻。摄入量的减少是通过饮水和喂食模式的显着变化实现的：每次舔食量的减少和每次饮水的舔次数的减少，以及喂食持续时间的增加，导致进食率总体下降。相反，长期摄入氯化钠会导致饮酒次数和舔次数增加。避免使用氯化锂可能是摄入氯化锂的毒性作用和对氯化锂味道的快速习得厌恶的结合，如在随后的氯化钠测试期间对氯化钠溶液的可消除的普遍厌恶所表明的那样。长期口服氯化锂对摄入的显着影响可能会影响锂的口服剂量以及大鼠的代谢状态。