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. 2012 Oct;102(4):540-8.
doi: 10.1016/j.pbb.2012.04.017. Epub 2012 Jun 28.

Daily patterns of ethanol drinking in adolescent and adult, male and female, high alcohol drinking (HAD) replicate lines of rats

Affiliations

Daily patterns of ethanol drinking in adolescent and adult, male and female, high alcohol drinking (HAD) replicate lines of rats

Ronnie Dhaher et al. Pharmacol Biochem Behav. 2012 Oct.

Abstract

The rationale for our study was to determine the pattern of ethanol drinking by the high alcohol-drinking (HAD) replicate lines of rats during adolescence and adulthood in both male and female rats. Rats were given 30 days of 24 h free-choice access to ethanol (15%, v/v) and water, with ad lib access to food, starting at the beginning of adolescence (PND 30) or adulthood (PND 90). Water and alcohol drinking patterns were monitored 22 h/day with a "lickometer" set-up. The results indicated that adolescent HAD-1 and HAD-2 males consumed the greatest levels of ethanol and had the most well defined ethanol licking binges among the age and sex groups with increasing levels of ethanol consumption throughout adolescence. In addition, following the first week of adolescence, male and female HAD-1 and HAD-2 rats differed in both ethanol consumption levels and ethanol licking behavior. Adult HAD-1 male and female rats did not differ from one another and their ethanol intake or licking behaviors did not change significantly over weeks. Adult HAD-2 male rats maintained a relatively constant level of ethanol consumption across weeks, whereas adult HAD-2 female rats increased ethanol consumption levels over weeks, peaking during the third week when they consumed more than their adult male counterparts. The results indicate that the HAD rat lines could be used as an effective animal model to examine the development of ethanol consumption and binge drinking in adolescent male and female rats providing information on the long-range consequences of adolescent alcohol drinking.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of interest

None of the authors have real or perceived conflicts of interest associated with this work.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Effects of sex and age of HAD1 and HAD2 rats on body weight (BW) (g), ethanol intake (g/kg/day), water intake (ml/kg/day), and percent ethanol preference across the 4 weeks of ethanol access (n = 13–15/age/sex). All data are representations of the mean ± S.E.M. Adult female HAD-2 rats had a higher BW than adult female HAD-1 rats (^). Adolescent male rats consumed significantly more alcohol than adult male rats; HAD-2 rats during the 2nd through 4th weeks and HAD-1 rats during the third week (*). Adult female rats consumed significantly more alcohol than adolescent female rats; HAD-2 rats during the 4th week and HAD-1 rats during the 2nd week (#). Adolescent male HAD-2 rats consumed significantly more water than adolescent HAD-1 rats during the first three weeks (++). Adolescent female HAD-2 rats drank significantly more water than adolescent female HAD-1 rats during the 1st week (~). Adult female HAD-1 rats consumed significantly more water than adult female HAD-2 rats during the 3rd and 4th weeks (+). Adolescent male HAD-1 and HAD-2 rats and adolescent female HAD-2 rats increased ethanol preference over weeks.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Ethanol licking behavior in the HAD-1 rat line. Effect of sex of animal (male vs. female HAD-1 rats), age of animal (adolescent vs. adult HAD-1 rats), week of access and time of day on ethanol (15%, v/v) licking behavior (mean ± S.E.M.) across the 4 weeks of ethanol access (n = 13–15/age/sex). Male animals licked the ethanol bottle sipper tube more often than female animals, with most of the ethanol licking behavior of both adolescent and adult HAD-1 rats taking place during the dark cycle. Adolescent male HAD-1 rats consumed the most ethanol of all four groups, see also Fig. 1. Additionally, increases in ethanol licking behavior across weeks were primarily displayed by the adolescent male HAD-1 rats.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Ethanol licking behavior in the HAD-2 rat line. Effect of sex of animal (male vs. female HAD-2 rats), age of animal (adolescent vs. adult HAD-2 rats), week of access and time of day on ethanol (15%, v/v) licking behavior (mean ± S.E.M.) across the 4 weeks of ethanol access (n = 13–15/age/sex). Male animals licked the ethanol bottle sipper tube more often than female animals, with most of the ethanol licking behavior of both adolescent and adult HAD-2 rats taking place during the dark cycle. Adolescent male HAD-2 rats showed the most ethanol licking behavior of all four groups. Additionally, increases in ethanol licking behavior across weeks were primarily displayed by the adolescent male HAD-2 rats.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Water licking behavior in the HAD-1 rat strain. Effect of sex of animal (male vs. female HAD-1 rats), age of animal (adolescent vs. adult HAD-1 rats), week of access and time of day on water licking behavior (mean ± S.E.M.) across the 4 weeks of ethanol access (n = 13–15/age/sex). Adult female HAD-1 rats displayed less water licking behavior that the other three groups of rats. Most of the water licking behavior of both adolescent and adult HAD-1 rats took place during the dark cycle.
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Water licking behavior in the HAD-2 rat strain. Effect of sex of animal (male vs. female HAD-2 rats), age of animal (adolescent vs. adult HAD-2 rats), week of access and time of day on water licking behavior (mean ± S.E.M.) across the 4 weeks of ethanol access (n = 13–15/age/sex). Water licking behavior was higher in the males when compared to the females. Adolescent males showed more water licking behavior than adult males. Decreases in water licking behavior across weeks were displayed by all of the groups, although the magnitude differed among the groups. Most of the water licking behavior of both adolescent and adult HAD-2 rats took place during the dark cycle.

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