Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
1067833 | Alcohol | 2008 | 10 Pages |
Abstract
Alcoholics generally display cycles of excessive ethanol intake, abstinence and relapse behavior. Using an animal model of relapse-like drinking, the alcohol deprivation effect (ADE), our laboratory has shown that repeated 2-week cycles of ethanol deprivation and re-exposure, following an initial 6-week access period, result in a robust ADE by alcohol-preferring (P) and high alcohol-drinking (HAD-1 and HAD-2) rats. These rat lines have been selectively bred to prefer a 10% ethanol solution over water. The present study examined whether P and HAD rats would display an ADE using much shorter ethanol deprivation and re-exposure intervals. Rats were given either continuous or periodic concurrent access to multiple concentrations (10%, 20%, and 30% [vol/vol]) of ethanol. The periodic protocol involved access to ethanol for 12 days followed by four cycles of 4 days of deprivation and 4 days of re-exposure to ethanol access. High-alcohol-drinking rats displayed a robust 24-h ADE upon first re-exposure (HAD-1: â¼5 vs. 8Â g/kg/day; HAD-2: â¼6 vs. 9Â g/kg/day, baseline vs. re-exposure), whereas P rats (â¼7 vs. 8Â g/kg/day) displayed a modest, nonsignificant, increase in 24-h intake. In a separate group of rats, ethanol intake and blood alcohol concentrations after the first hour of the fourth re-exposure cycle were HAD-1: 2.0Â g/kg and 97 mg%, HAD-2: 2.3Â g/kg and 73 mg%, and P: 1.2Â g/kg and 71 mg%; with all three lines displaying a robust first hour ADE. These findings suggest that (a) an ADE may be observed with short ethanol deprivation and re-exposure intervals in HAD rats, and (b) the genetic make-up of the PÂ and HAD rats influences the expression of this ADE.
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Authors
Richard L. Bell, Zachary A. Rodd, Jonathon A. Schultz, Caron L. Peper, Lawrence Lumeng, James M. Murphy, William J. McBride,