Journal
BEHAVIOURAL BRAIN RESEARCH
Volume 275, Issue -, Pages 288-296Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV
DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2014.08.058
Keywords
Anxiety; Alcohol; Multivariate concentric square field (MCSF); Intermittent access; Individual difference; Alcohol deprivation effect
Categories
Funding
- Alcohol Research Council of the Swedish Alcohol Retailing Monopoly
- Magnus Bergvall Foundation
- Ake Wiberg Foundation
- Fredrik & Ingrid Thuring Foundation
- Facias Foundation
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Experimental animal models are critical for understanding the genetic, environmental and neurobiological underpinnings of alcohol use disorders. Limited studies investigate alcohol-induced effects on behavior using free-choice paradigms. The aims of the present experiment were to study voluntary alcohol intake using a modified intermittent access paradigm, investigate the effects of voluntary alcohol intake on behavioral profiles in water- and alcohol-drinking rats, and select extreme low- and high-drinking animals for a more detailed behavioral characterization. Sixty outbred male Wistar rats were randomized into water and alcohol groups. Behavioral profiles in the multivariate concentric square field (TM) (MCSF) test were assessed prior to and after voluntary alcohol intake. The animals had intermittent access to 20% alcohol and water for three consecutive days per week for seven weeks. The results revealed increased alcohol intake over time. No major alcohol-induced differences on behavior profiles were found when comparing water- and alcohol-drinking animals. The high-drinking animals displayed an alcohol deprivation effect, which was not found in the low-drinking animals. High-drinking rats had lower risk-taking behavior prior to alcohol access and lower anxiety-like behavior after voluntary alcohol intake compared to low-drinking rats. In conclusion, the modified intermittent access paradigm may be useful for pharmacological manipulation of alcohol intake. With regard to behavior, the present findings highlights the importance of studying subgroup-dependent differences and add to the complexity of individual differences in behavioral traits of relevance to the vulnerability for excessive alcohol intake. (C) 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available