Figure 10.

CTx does not slow the speed of bitter perception. a–c, Brief-access test results with bitter stimuli after CTx. Similar to precut conditions (Fig. 8), mice displayed a significant drop in licking to increasing concentrations of quinine (p < 0.01, ANOVA). Importantly, we observed that the timing of lick rate change relative to water was as fast or even faster in response to 1 and 2 mm quinine after CTx compared with precut conditions, indicating the CTx did not hinder the speed of bitter perception, consistent with our hypothesis. Results are plotted as mean ± SEM. Asterisks indicate statistical significance at p < 0.05. Differences in lick rates in 250 ms windows were compared using t tests.