Rojas, SebastiánDiaz-Galarce, RaúlJerez-Baraona, Juan ManuelQuintana-Donoso, DaisyMoraga-Amaro, RodrigoStehberg, Jimmy2023-05-112023-05-112015-06Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience Volume 9, Issue JUNE29 June 2015 Article number 1641662-5153https://repositorio.unab.cl/xmlui/handle/ria/49543Indexación: ScopusReluctance to try novel tastes (neophobia) can be exacerbated in arousing situations, such as when children are under social stress or in rodents, when the new taste is presented in a high arousal context (HA) compared to a low arousal context (LA). The present study aimed at determining whether adrenergic transmission at the Insula regulates the reluctance to try novel tastes induced by arousing contexts. To this end, a combination of systemic and intra-insular manipulations of adrenergic activity was performed before the novel taste (saccharin 0.1%) was presented either in LA or HA contexts in rats. Our results show that systemic adrenergic activity modulates reluctance to try novel tastes. Moreover, intra-insular microinjections of propranolol or norepinephrine (NE) were found to modulate the effects of arousing contexts on reluctance to try novel tastes. Finally, intra-insular propranolol blocked epinephrine-induced increased reluctance, while intra-insular NE blocked oral propranolol-induced decreases in reluctance and increased the reluctance to try novel tastes presented in low arousing contexts. In conclusion, our results suggest that the insula is a critical site for regulating the effects of arousal in the reluctance to try novel tastes via the adrenergic system. © 2015 Rojas, Diaz-Galarce, Jerez-Baraona, Quintana-Donoso, Moraga-Amaro and Stehberg.enAdrenergic activityArousalInsulaInsular cortexReluctanceTaste neophobiArtículoAtribución 4.0 Internacional (CC BY 4.0)10.3389/fnbeh.2015.00164