Gastric bypass in female rats lowers concentrated sugar solution intake and preference without affecting brief-access licking after long-term sugar exposure

In rodents, Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) decreases intake of, and preference for, foods or fluids that are high in sugar. Whether these surgically induced changes are due to decreases in the palatability of sugar stimuli is controversial. We used RYGB and sham-operated (SHAM) female rats to test the influence of prolonged ingestive experience with sugar solutions on the motivational potency of these stimuli to drive licking in brief-access (BA) tests. In experiment 1, RYGB attenuated intake of, and caloric preference for, 0.3 M sucrose during five consecutive, 46-h two-bottle tests (TBTs; sucrose). A second series of TBTs (5 consecutive, 46-h tests) with 1.0 M sucrose revealed similar results, except fluid preference for 1.0 M sucrose also significantly decreased. Before, between, and after the two series of TBTs, two sessions of BA tests (30 min; 10-s trials) with an array of sucrose concentrations (0 and 0.01-1.0 M) were conducted. Concentration-dependent licking and overall trial initiation did not differ between surgical groups in any test. In a similar experimental design in a second cohort of female rats, 0.6 and 2.0 M glucose (isocaloric with sucrose concentrations in experiment 1) were used in the TBTs; 0 and 0.06-2.0 M glucose were used in the BA tests. Outcomes were similar to those for experiment 1, except RYGB rats initiated fewer trials during the BA tests. Although RYGB profoundly affected intake of, and caloric preference for, sugar solutions and, with high concentrations, fluid preference, RYGB never influenced the motivational potency of sucrose or glucose to drive concentration-dependent licking in BA tests.