2-Deoxy-D-glucose produces delayed hypophagia and conditioned taste aversion in rats

The glucose analogue 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2DG) produces cellular glucoprivation and a brief (1-6 hr) hyperphagia that may be followed by a period of overcompensatory hypophagia in rats. The present study examined the dose-response effects of 2DG upon food intake at 1, 6, and 24 hr, and investigated whether taste aversions are formed for a substance consumed immediately prior to drug injection. Water-deprived rats drank a novel 0.2% saccharin solution and then received a single injection of either 2DG (250, 500, or 750 mg/kg, IP) or saline. Food intake was elevated equally by all 2 DG doses at 1 hr, but by 6 hr these elevations no longer were statistically significant. At 24 hr, intake was subnormal after 750 mg/kg but normal after the lower doses. Conditioned saccharin aversions, measured 4 and 5 days after drug injection using 2-bottle preference tests, were produced by all 2DG doses and were not dose-related. It is suggested that the depression of 24-hr food intake that occurs after high doses may not be caused by the same drug property that induces taste aversion.