Acute ethanol does not always affect delay discounting in rats selected to prefer or avoid ethanol.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to determine whether animals predisposed to prefer alcohol possess an altered acute response to alcohol on a delay discounting task relative to animals predisposed to avoid alcohol.


METHODS
We used rats selected to prefer or avoid alcohol to assess whether genotype moderates changes in delay discounting induced by acute ethanol exposure. Selectively bred rat lines of Sardinian alcohol-preferring (sP; n = 8) and non-preferring (sNP; n = 8) rats, and alko alcohol (AA, n = 8) and alko non-alcohol (ANA, n = 8) rats were trained in an adjusting amount task to assess delay discounting.


RESULTS
There were no significant effects of line on baseline discounting; however, both lines of alcohol-preferring rats exhibit slowed reaction times. Acute ethanol (0, 0.25, 0.5 g/kg) treatment also had no effect on delay discounting in any of the selectively bred rat lines.


CONCLUSIONS
Our data indicate that in these lines of animals, alcohol preference or avoidance has no impact on delay discounting following acute ethanol exposure. It is possible that other genetic models or lines may be differentially affected by alcohol and exhibit qualitatively and quantitatively different responses in delay discounting tasks.
Department of Psychiatry, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR 97239, USA. wilhelmc@ohsu.edu
Clare J
CJ
Wilhelm
Suzanne H
SH
Mitchell
D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000235:genetics; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000187:drug effects*; D002492:Central Nervous System Depressants / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000431:Ethanol / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005838:Genotype; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains
D002492:Central Nervous System Depressants; D000431:Ethanol