Bitches changed abruptly their maternal behavior on 15th and 16th day of the maternal cycle, following an exchange - on the beginning of 15th day - of some puppies from their own litter for other 2-3 days old puppies. The total time of tactile contact with puppies on days 15 and 16 greatly increased as compared with the 13th and 14th day, i.e., the days immediately preceding the exchange of pup...

Previous studies have localized a central pattern generator for mastication to the midline pontomedullary reticular formation (RF) based on cortically induced ororhythmic movements. The present study determined whether this same substrate mediated licking responses evoked by more natural stimuli. Licking in the awake rat was initiated either through an appetitive response to sucrose presented i...

Ivermectin is a worldwide-used antiparasitic drug largely administered to cattle as a topical formulation (pour-on). The actual plasma and faecal disposition of pour-on ivermectin in cattle was documented using an original pharmacokinetic model, and taking into account the oral ingestion of the topical drug following physiological licking as a secondary route of exposure. Six pairs of monozygot...

To examine the role of striatal mechanisms in cocaine-induced stereotyped licking, we investigated the acute effects of cocaine on striatal neurons in awake, freely moving rats before and after cocaine administration (0, 5, 10, or 20 mg/kg). Stereotyped licking was induced only by the high dose. Relative to control (saline), cocaine reduced lick duration and concurrently increased interlick int...

The free fatty acids (FFAs), linoleic and oleic acids, commonly found in dietary fats can be detected by rats on the basis of gustatory cues following conditioned taste aversion pairings. FFAs depolarize the membrane potential of isolated rat taste receptor cells by inhibiting delayed rectifying potassium channels. This study examined the licking response of rats to sweet, salt, sour, and bitte...

The glutamate receptors in the nervous system are related to nociceptive response. These receptors include the AMPA (a -amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4isoxazolepropionate) receptor and the NMDA (N-methyl-D-aspartate) receptor1). The purpose of this study was to investigate whether novel antagonists of these glutamate receptors could inhibit the nociceptive response in the spinal cord of male Wistar ...

We created an easy-to-use device for operant licking experiments and another device that records environmental variables. Both devices use the Raspberry Pi computer to obtain data from multiple input devices (e.g., radio frequency identification tag readers, touch and motion sensors, environmental sensors) and activate output devices (e.g., LED lights, syringe pumps) as needed. Data gathered fr...