[Possibility of affecting the regulation of salt and water uptake in the critical periods of development in rats].
Peculiarities in water and salt (NaCl) appetite were studied in rats under various experimental influences during critical periods of development. When sexual maturation is going on, females consume more salt than males. These sex depending differences may be altered by experimental influences but only during critical periods of development, for instance by injection of androgens into neonatal females or by gonadectomy of males, by premature cessation of rearing, etc. The effects of those early interventions manifest themselves after the termination of sexual maturation.