title: Increased alcohol drinking in isolate-housed alcohol-preferring rats.
abstract: Alcoholism is a complex disorder influenced by interactions between genetic and environmental risk factors. This study examined the influence of isolate housing on ethanol intake in alcohol-preferring (P) and non-alcohol-preferring (NP) rats. Rats were isolate-housed or pair-housed for 8 weeks when between 45 and 96 days old. Ethanol drinking was assessed using a 24-hr preference test (10% ethanol vs. water) and 20-min limited access tests. A behavioral test battery was used to assess anxiety-like, depressive-like, acoustic startle, and motor behavior. Isolate housing increased home cage drinking in both lines and increased limited access drinking selectively in P rats. Isolation also reduced swim test immobility and prepulse inhibition in P rats and increased locomotor stereotypies in NP rats. Taken together, these data demonstrate that LinexEnvironment interactions influence the effects of isolation. Furthermore, isolation selectively increased ethanol intake in high drinking P rats. This effect was not correlated with changes in other behaviors. Selective enhancement of limited access ethanol drinking in P rats may represent a model whereby genetic liability to excessive drinking is enhanced by specific environmental exposures.
authors.affiliation: Molecular and Integrative Neurosciences Department, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA. cindye@scripps.edu
authors.forename: Cindy L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Ehlers
authors.forename: Brendan M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Walker
authors.forename: Jerry P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Pian
authors.forename: Jennifer L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Roth
authors.forename: Craig J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Slawecki
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000235:genetics / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D002492:Central Nervous System Depressants / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000097:blood; D000431:Ethanol / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000097:blood; D005518:Food Preferences; D008297:Male; D018782:Maze Learning / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000187:drug effects; D051381:Rats; D012646:Self Administration; D012934:Social Isolation / Q000523:psychology*
chemical_list: D002492:Central Nervous System Depressants; D000431:Ethanol