Examination of the negative alcohol-deprivation effect in the golden hamster (Mesocricetus auratus)

Abstract

When ethanol-consuming animals are denied access to their ethanol solution for a period of days, there is typically a temporary but substantial increase in their ethanol consumption when the solution is returned. Golden hamsters are unusual in that they actually decrease their consumption of a 7% ethanol solution (v/v) under these circumstances. There experiments were therefore undertaken to further investigate this unusual negative alcohol-deprivation effect (ADE) in hamsters. In Experiment 1, the negative ADE was observed across a wide range of ethanol concentrations; adult male hamsters were given access to food, water, and either a 7.5, 15, or 30% (v/v) ethanol solution, and when the ethanol solution was withdrawn for seven days and then returned, ethanol consumption decreased significantly for several days and then recovered. Experiment 2 demonstrated that similar negative deprivation effects occur with glucose (15% w/v) and saccharin (0.1%) solutions, suggesting that the nutritional and pharmacological properties of ethanol do not play an important role in the negative ADE of hamsters. In Experiment 3, when hamsters with continuous access to either an ethanol, glucose, or saccharin solution were switched to an alternate-days access schedule, their intake of solutions decreased substantially, supporting the conclusion that a common mechanism accounts for the golden hamster's negative deprivation responses to ethanol solutions and to other solutions, both nutritive and nonnutritive. Hypotheses relating to the mechanism underlying negative deprivation effects are presented and discussed.