The experiments were designed to study the association between consumption of palatable 0.1% (w/v) saccharin solution, voluntary drinking of 10% (v/v) ethanol solution, and pain sensitivity measured with the hot plate test. Rat lines that were genetically selected for high alcohol consumption (P and AA rats), alcohol-preferring Fawn Hooded (FH) rats and their F2[FH x FRL] hybrids, and the Maudsley Nonreactive strain (MNRA) had a high propensity to consume saccharin that resulted in a significant (almost twofold; p < 0.05) increase in their daily fluid intake when saccharin was available. These strains also had lower pain thresholds in the hot plate test than did their parallel strains [NP, ANA, Maudsley Reactive (MR)]. Most alcohol-nonpreferring strains [NP, ANA, and Flinders Resistant Line (FRL)] had preference ratios for saccharin about as high as those of the alcohol-preferring rats but, unlike the high alcohol drinkers, they did not increase their total fluid intake when saccharin was available. The mean saccharin intakes of the lines were strongly correlated with their alcohol drinking during the first 5 days, whereas their latencies on the hot plate were inversely related to their change in alcohol drinking with experience. The results are consistent with an endogenous opioid mechanism being involved in alcohol drinking.

Alcohol Drinking↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Decreasing acetaldehyde levels with 4-methylpyrazole does not increase voluntary ethanol drinking by rats.

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Acetaldehyde↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Revitalization of the AA and ANA rat lines: effects on some line characteristics.

After 37 generations, the AA and ANA rat lines developed for high and low voluntary alcohol consumption, were revitalized by crossing with hybrid (Brown Norwegian X Lewis) rats. The line difference in alcohol consumption continued, although initially diminished, after revitalization. The greater acetaldehyde accumulation and longer loss of righting reflex after ethanol administration of the ANAs persisted after revitalization, but significant line differences in motor impairment were no longer found. The line characteristics for open-field test behavior were also different than before revitalization. Of the previously-observed line differences that have now been reexamined, the level of blood acetaldehyde during ethanol metabolism appears to be the most closely related to the genetically-determined factors influencing alcohol consumption.

Acetaldehyde↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Ethanol-induced conditioned taste aversion to ethanol.

A single injection of 2.5 g/kg ethanol one hr after drinking a 10% ethanol-0.05% saccharin solution produced a persistent conditioned taste aversion to the ethanol-saccharin solution. Twelve pairings produced a still stronger aversion that generalized to an aversion to a 10% ethanol solution without saccharin. Unpaired presentations of ethanol-saccharin solution and ethanol injections prevented the subsequent development of an aversion from a single pairing. Twelve pairings of access to saccharin solution with ethanol injections produced an aversion that generalized to an ethanol-saccharin solution. All groups receiving 12 alternate-day ethanol injections developed tolerance to the hypothermic effect of ethanol, but the tolerance was not conditioned to the drinking fluids previously paired with ethanol injections and it was unrelated to the subsequent drinking behaviors.

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Cyanamide injections during alcohol deprivation increase alcohol drinking.

Long-Evans male rats were given 7 weeks of choice between 10% ethanol and water and then were divided into 6 matched groups, 3 of which were then deprived of alcohol for 6 days. Subcutaneous cyanamide injections (10 mg/kg, 3 times daily, for 4 days) during alcohol deprivation produced a long lasting, significant increase in subsequent alcohol selection, over and above the increase produced by alcohol deprivation alone. The same injections given to a group not deprived of alcohol caused a significant suppression of alcohol drinking during the treatment and had disappeared 4 days after the last injection. Thereafter the drinking remained at the control level and did not rise to that of the group given the injections during deprivation. The groups did not differ in their subsequent selection of saline solutions.

Alcohol Drinking↗