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The central distributions of gustatory and non-gustatory branches of cranial nerves V, VII, IX, and X were examined after application of horseradish peroxidase to the cut nerve. The nerves conveying gustatory information, chorda tympani (CT), greater superficial petrosal (GSP), lingual-tonsilar branch of IX (LT-IX), superior laryngeal branch of X (SL), distributed primarily to the lateral division of the nucleus of the solitary tract (NST) from its rostral pole to the obex. The CT and GSP distributions were coextensive and terminated most densely in the rostral pole of NST. The LT-IX distribution concentrated between this major CT/GSP distribution and the area postrema with a caudal extension into the interstitial nucleus of NST. This nerve also had a substantial projection, not found in other gustatory nerves, into the dorsolateral aspect of the medial NST. The SL distribution overlapped LT-IX in the caudal medulla. The lingual and inferior alveolar nerves, two oral trigeminal branches, projected to regions of NST innervated by the gustatory nerves. The cervical vagus nerve distributed primarily to the medial NST in the caudal half of the nucleus and exhibited only minimal overlap with gustatory nerve distributions. The nucleus of the solitary tract appears to have two major functional divisions--an anterior-lateral oral-gustatory half, and a posterior-medial visceral afferent half.

Although taste can influence meal size and body weight, the neural substrate for these effects remains obscure. Dopamine, particularly in the nucleus accumbens, has been implicated in both natural and nonnatural rewards. To isolate the orosensory effects of taste from possible postingestive consequences, we investigated the quantitative relationship between sham feeding of sucrose and extracellular dopamine in the nucleus accumbens with microdialysis in rats. Sucrose intake linearly increased as a function of concentration (0.03 M, 18.07 +/- 2.41 ml; 0.1 M, 30.92 +/- 2.60 ml; 0.3 M, 43.28 +/- 2.88 ml). Sham feeding also stimulated accumbens dopamine overflow as a function of sucrose solution concentration (0.03 M, 120.76 +/- 2.6%; 0.1 M, 140.28 +/- 7.8%; 0.3 M, 146.27 +/- 5.05%). A second experiment used the same protocol but clamped the amount of sucrose ingested and revealed a similar, concentration-dependent dopamine activation in the nucleus accumbens. This is the first demonstration of a quantitative relationship between the concentration-dependent rewarding effect of orosensory stimulation by sucrose during eating and the overflow of dopamine in the nucleus accumbens. This finding provides new and strong support for accumbens dopamine in the rewarding effect of sucrose.

The projections of a third order gustatory relay in the dorsal pons of rats have been traced using tritiated proline autoradiography and antidromic activation of pontine neurons from electrodes in the thalamus and amygdala. Labelled axons collect in the central tegmental tract and ascend to the thalamic taste area in the medial extension of the ventrobasal complex. The majority of the fibers remain ipsilateral, but a few cross in the rostral pons and midbrain. The largest crossing occurs at the level of the thalamic termination. Many fascicles of fibers continue rostrally by passing beneath the thalamic taste area, piercing the medial lemniscus, and spreading out along the dorsomedial corner of the internal capsule (IC). The terminal field at this level caps IC from the subthalamic nucleus down into the far-lateral hypothalamus. Labelled axons grandually penetrate through the internal capsule, and ramify throughout the underlying substantia innominata. This terminal zone extends laterally into the rostral end of the central nucleus of the amygdala, which is densely labelled to its caudal exremity. At the caudal end of the amygdala labelled fibers are visible in one component of the stria terminalis. These fibers can be followed over the dorsal thalamus into a smaller, but equally dense terminal area in the dorsolateral bed nucleus of the stria terminalis. The electrophysiological data demonstrate that pontine gustatory units can be antidromically activated by electrodes located in or near the central nucleus of the amygdala. Since many of the same units can also be driven from the thalamic taste area, at least some of the axons traced autoradiographically probably convey gustatory information to the hypothalamus and amygdala.

Projections to the trigeminal, facial, ambiguus, and hypoglossal motor nuclei were determined by using horseradish peroxidase histochemistry. Most of the afferent projections to these motor nuclei were from the brainstem reticular formation, frequently in areas adjacent to other synergetic motor nuclei. The reticular formation lateral to the hypoglossal nucleus and reticular structures surrounding the trigeminal motor nucleus projected to each of these other brainstem motor nuclei involved in oral-facial function. Afferent projections to these motor nuclei also were organized along the rostrocaudal axis. Within the reticular formation most of the afferent projections to the trigeminal motor nucleus originated rostral to the majority of neurons projecting to the hypoglossal and ambiguus nuclei, which in turn were rostral to the primary source of reticular afferents to the facial nucleus. In comparison, projections from the sensory trigeminal nuclei and nucleus of the solitary tract were sparse. The interneuron pools that project to the orofacial motoneurons provide one further link in understanding the brainstem substrates for integrating oral and ingestive behaviors.

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Taste substances applied to the oral cavity result in either ingestion or rejection, each with a characteristic muscular response pattern. These responses are the same in decerebrate and intact rats; the caudal brainstem appears to be the neural substrate of ingestion and rejection responses. The experiment determined whether decerebrates can alter these discriminative responses as a function of food deprivation or toxicosis. Food-deprived decerebrate rats, like intact ones, ingested a taste substance they had rejected when sated. However, these same decerebrates, in contrast to controls, neither rejected nor decreased ingestive reactions to a novel taste after that taste had been repeatedly paired with lithium chloride-induced illness. Although the forebrain may be important for integrating ingestion, some aspects of this control seem to be represented in caudal brain areas.