Initial subjective reward to alcohol in Sprague-Dawley rats

- Sprague-Dawley rats show place preference to a context paired once with ethanol.
- Male rats only prefer a context paired with drug on the first day of the procedure.
- Females prefer the drug-paired context independent of experimental day.
- Initial subjective rewarding effects of alcohol are readily demonstrated in rats.
- Our procedure offers researchers a tool to study the risk for alcohol use disorders.

Initial subjective response to the rewarding properties of alcohol predicts voluntary consumption and the risk for alcohol use disorders. We assessed the initial subjective reward to alcohol in rats using a single exposure conditioned place preference (SE-CPP) paradigm. Sprague-Dawley rats demonstrate preference for a context paired with a single systemic injection of ethanol (1.0 g/kg, delivered intraperitoneally). However, expression of SE-CPP in males depended on pairing ethanol with the first exposure of two (ethanol; saline) to the conditioning apparatus and procedures, while conditioning day did not appreciably affect SE-CPP in females, consistent with the view that females experience heightened addiction vulnerability. This model offers researchers a high throughput assay for investigating factors that influence alcohol reward and may point the way toward more effective prevention and treatment efforts.