Phenotypic characterization of second generation offspring of alcohol-sensitive ANT and alcohol-insensitive AT rat lines

Abstract

The alcohol-sensitive ANT and the alcohol-insensitive AT rat lines developed by selective breeding for differential sensitivity to motor impairment on the tilting plane by a moderate ethanol dose (2 g/kg, IP), were cross-bred to produce second generation (F2) offspring to study phenotypic correlations between various behavioral and biochemical properties and the degree of initial alcohol sensitivity in the tilting plane test. The F2 population (n = 75) was subjected to alcohol sensitivity tests using a tilting plane test and a sleep time test, and to the elevated plus-maze test of sober activity and anxiety. Finally, the animals were sacrificed and the concentrations of dopamine and its acidic metabolites were analyzed in their striatal tissues. Serum corticosterone was determined to obtain information about the stress responses of the animals after the tilting plane test. The behaviors studied had no significant correlations with each other, suggesting that the various genetic and environmental factors affecting these behavioral phenotypes are different for each behavior. The biochemical measures yielded some correlations with the tilting plane test results that were contrary to the differences between the parent rat lines (dopaminergic indices) or that were confounded by the correlations with the body weight of the animals (corticosterone). Body-weight independent correlational tendency between the alcohol-induced impairment in motor performance and serum corticosterone concentration, however, fitted the differences between the parent lines, suggesting that stress mechanisms cannot be fully excluded as factors contributing to the differential alcohol sensitivity between the ANT and AT rat lines.