Abstract
A number of commonly used antitumor drugs (Cytoxan, Adriamycin, cytosine arabinoside, Vincristine) were evaluated for their ability to act as unconditioned stimuli (USs) in a taste aversion conditioning paradigm. With one exception (cytosine arabinoside), discussed in the text, drugs which induce nausea and vomiting when administered to humans (Cytoxan, Adriamycin) produced significant saccharin aversions in rats; a drug which does not produce these symptoms (Vincristine) did not produce saccharin aversions. In later studies, the effect of a chronic disease state (tumor growth) on the acquisition of learned taste aversions was evaluated. Rats bearing moderate or advanced transplantable tumors were comparable to healthy controls in their formation of conditioned taste aversions. Therefore, the chronic malaise produced by a growing tumor neither attenuated nor exaggerated the taste aversions induced by Cytoxan or Adriamycin injections. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for human taste aversion learning.
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Bernstein, I. L., Samson, H. H., & Sigmundi, R. A. The effects of two transplantable polyoma virus-induced sarcomas on food intake ofthe rat. Submitted for publication, 1979.
Bernstein, I. L., & Webster, M. M. Learned taste aversions in humans. Submitted for publication, 1979.
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Supported by Grant RO1 CA26419-01 awarded by the National Cancer Institute, DHEW. Tumors were provided by Dr. I. D. Bernstein of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Institute, Seattle, Washington.
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Bernstein, I.L., Vitiello, M.V. & Sigmundi, R.A. Effects of tumor growth on taste-aversion learning produced by antitumor drugs in the rat. Psychobiology 8, 51–55 (1980). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03326447
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03326447