The current study evaluates a novel procedure for assessing the reinforcing effects of palatable solutions in laboratory rats: intraoral self-administration. To this end, operant responding (i.e. lever pressing) for intraoral infusions of sweet solutions at different concentrations was measured on continuous and progressive ratios schedules of reinforcement.
Levy, A., Limebeer, C. L., Ferdinand, J., Shillingford, U., Parker, L. A., Leri, F. A Novel Procedure for Evaluating the Reinforcing Properties of Tastants in Laboratory Rats: Operant Intraoral Self-administration. J. Vis. Exp. (84), e50956, doi:10.3791/50956 (2014).