Early experience and the consumption of alcohol by adult C57BL/6J mice.
Two types of early experience were examined for their effect on voluntary alcohol consumption by adult C57BL/6J mice: the experiences associated with belonging to a particular litter, and the experience of early postweaning choice between water and a 10% alcohol solution. Males from identified litters were individually caged from arrival at three weeks of age and given a choice between 10% alcohol and water when eight weeks old. Another group without notation of litter was given alcohol-water choice upon arrival at three weeks of age. Alcohol intake was examined by three measures: daily licks of 10% alcohol, alcohol selection (percent alcohol drinking), and volume of alcohol drunk daily. Belonging to a particular litter did affect body weight and growth, but had no effect on adult consumption of alcohol. Postweaning exposure to alcohol choice, however, produced a small but significant and prolonged increase in alcohol consumption by adults. Furthermore, a developmental trend was found in mice offered alcohol choice at an early age: alcohol preference developed as postweaning growth slowed.
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Laboratory of the Biology of the Addictive Diseases, Rockefeller University, New York, NY 10021.
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D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology; D000428:Alcohol Drinking; D000822:Animal Husbandry; D000818:Animals; D002755:Choice Behavior; D004326:Drinking; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D014886:Weaning