A learned oral signal drives long-lasting thirst satiation
- 1University of California, San Francisco
Abstract
Drinking quenches thirst long before the ingested water has been absorbed. Here we investigate the mechanism by combining sham drinking, which uncouples water ingestion from rehydration, with recordings of thirst-promoting neurons in the brain. We show that sham drinking suppresses thirst and rapidly inhibits thirst-promoting neurons despite no water absorption. Remarkably, this suppression of thirst neurons in the absence of rehydration is proportional to the amount of water consumed and persists for tens of minutes after drinking has stopped. This sustained inhibition is triggered by passage of water through the oral cavity, but not licking or swallowing alone, and undergoes extinction with repeated sham drinking, indicating it is learned. Complementary experiments using hypertonic saline demonstrate this learning is bidirectional. These findings reveal that the experience of rapid thirst quenching is not a hard-wired response to the consumption of water, but rather a learned prediction of future bodily state.
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BibTeX
@misc{liu2026learned,
title = {{A learned oral signal drives long-lasting thirst satiation}},
author = {Z. Liu and H. Namkung and J. Zhang and J. Davis and N. La Santa Medina and S. Laskaris and A. Cao and T. Chen and X. Wen and Z. A. Knight},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.64898/2026.09.25.754368},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.25.754368v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - A learned oral signal drives long-lasting thirst satiation
AU - Z. Liu
AU - H. Namkung
AU - J. Zhang
AU - J. Davis
AU - N. La Santa Medina
AU - S. Laskaris
AU - A. Cao
AU - T. Chen
AU - X. Wen
AU - Z. A. Knight
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/25
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.09.25.754368
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.25.754368v1
AB - Drinking quenches thirst long before the ingested water has been absorbed. Here we investigate the mechanism by combining sham drinking, which uncouples water ingestion from rehydration, with recordings of thirst-promoting neurons in the brain. We show that sham drinking suppresses thirst and rapidly inhibits thirst-promoting neurons despite no water absorption. Remarkably, this suppression of thirst neurons in the absence of rehydration is proportional to the amount of water consumed and persists for tens of minutes after drinking has stopped. This sustained inhibition is triggered by passage of water through the oral cavity, but not licking or swallowing alone, and undergoes extinction with repeated sham drinking, indicating it is learned. Complementary experiments using hypertonic saline demonstrate this learning is bidirectional. These findings reveal that the experience of rapid thirst quenching is not a hard-wired response to the consumption of water, but rather a learned prediction of future bodily state.
ER -