The effect of chronic poisoning with carbon tetrachloride on voluntary consumption of ethanol by mice.
Mice were chronically poisoned with carbon tetrachloride injected twice weekly, intraperitoneally, in doses of 0.05-0.80 mg/g over 10 to 16 weeks. The poisoned animals, as compared to vehicle-injected controls, showed marginally significant increases in voluntary consumption of ethanol in a three-bottle choice (water, 10% and 20% ethanol continuously available), but not to a degree than could be considered alcoholic. The average daily intakes of ethanol remained within the range of variation for normal animals of this strain; there was no consistent shift in preference from 10% to 20% ethanol, and the distribution of drinking times within the 24-hour cycle remained normal. The relevance of these findings to the clinical problem of alcoholism is that the appetite for alcohol, a potential hepatotoxin, persists despite serious damage to the liver.
D000428:Alcohol Drinking; D000818:Animals; D002252:Carbon Tetrachloride Poisoning / Q000150:complications*; D002940:Circadian Rhythm; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D008106:Liver Cirrhosis, Experimental / Q000150:complications; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains