Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Research Highlight
  • Published:

Ion channels

Thirsty work

Nature Reviews Neuroscience volume 5, page 897 (2004)Cite this article

The Nax channel is already known to be involved in salt intake, and Hiyama et al. compared the salt-intake behaviour of Nax-knockout and wild-type mice in a series of experiments. In each, all mice were provided with both distilled water and a 0.3 M NaCl solution to drink, and, while fully satiated with water, showed no marked preference for either. After 48 hours dehydration, wild-type mice were more sensitive to saline, and showed a strong preference for the distilled water. However, mutant mice did not show this increased sensitivity and continued to ingest similar amounts of saline solution and distilled water. As there is already evidence that Nax is not involved in tasting, the researchers proposed that the abnormal salt intake seen in dehydrated Nax-knockout mice is the result of brain defects.

Hiyama et al. then investigated the drinking behaviour of the mice during microinjection of different NaCl concentrations into the cerebral ventricle. Infusion of an isotonic solution (0.145 M NaCl) did not result in differences in behaviour between the wild-type and mutant mice, with both taking equivalent volumes of water and 0.3 M NaCl. However, when a hypertonic solution (0.5 M NaCl) was infused, wild-type mice showed a strong aversion to the saline solution, but mutant mice did not.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

ORIGINAL REFERENCE PAPER

  1. Hiyama, T. Y., Watanabe, E., Okado, H. & Noda, M. The subfornical organ is the primary locus of sodium-level sensing by Nax sodium channels for the control of salt-intake behavior. J. Neurosci. 24, 9276–9281 (2004)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

FURTHER READING

  1. Amiry-Moghaddam, M. & Ottersen, O. P. The molecular basis of water transport in the brain. Nature Rev. Neurosci. 4, 991–1001 (2003)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors
  1. Sarah Archibald
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Archibald, S. Thirsty work. Nat Rev Neurosci 5, 897 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn1566

Download citation

  • Issue date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn1566

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing