TO DRINK OR NOT TO DRINK - TESTS OF ANXIETY AND IMMOBILITY IN ALCOHOL-PREFERRING AND ALCOHOL-NONPREFERRING RAT STRAINS

Previous reports have provided mixed results about emotional states in rats that voluntarily drink substantial amounts of alcohol. The purpo se of the present study was to compare several strains of alcohol-pref erring rats (P, AA, FH) with several strains of alcohol-nonpreferring rats (NP, ANA, FRL), and the Maudsley strains on tests reflecting anxi ety and immobility. At about 70 days of age the rats were placed in th e elevated plus maze for a 5-min test; a forced swim rest of 10 min wa s given 4 days later and this test was followed 4 days later by a modi fied forced swim test (the capsule), in which there were four false es cape alleys. The FRL rats spent more time in the open arms of the elev ated plus maze than any other strain, but there was no consistent rela tionship between elevated plus maze scores and alcohol intake. The alc ohol-preferring P rats were the most active in the standard forced swi m test and the alcohol-nonpreferring Maudsley Reactive rats were the l east active, but there was no consistent relationship between immobili ty and alcohol intake overall. All rats were much more active in the c apsule and there were no significant strain differences. However, the alcohol-preferring P and FH rats attempted to escape more than the oth er strains, resulting in an overall significant correlation between es cape attempts and alcohol intake. These findings do not provide any su pport for the hypothesis that alcohol-preferring rats are drinking alc ohol to reduce high anxiety states.