Voluntary ethanol drinking increases locomotor activity in alcohol-preferring AA rats.
This study explored, first, whether voluntary ethanol consumption produces locomotor stimulation in ethanol-preferring AA rats. Rats had continual access to water but access to a second bottle containing 10% ethanol, 0.1% saccharin, or water only for 10 min/day. Locomotor activity was significantly increased after the drinking in the ethanol group. Second, we compared the locomotor responses of AA and ANA (ethanol-avoiding) rats to IP ethanol (0.6 and 1.0 g/kg). Rats habituated to test cages showed no effects, but on a modified open field novel to animals there was a short increase in activity without any rat line difference. This activity increase might have resulted from a weak anxiolytic action of ethanol, indicated by the finding in the elevated plus-maze where IP ethanol (1.0 g/kg) increased the number of crosses from a closed arm to another in both AA and ANA rats. The results suggest that ethanol has reinforcing effects in AA rats when drunk but not when injected IP.
Päivärinta
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Biomedical Research Center, Alko Ltd., Helsinki, Finland.
Korpi
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D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000523:psychology*; D000818:Animals; D014151:Anti-Anxiety Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D000431:Ethanol / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005106:Exploratory Behavior / Q000187:drug effects; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D013268:Stimulation, Chemical
D014151:Anti-Anxiety Agents; D000431:Ethanol