TASTE REACTIVITY TO ETHANOL IN RATS - INFLUENCE OF ADRENALECTOMY OR IPSAPIRONE

The affective mimetic responses of male Wistar rats with prior access to 6% ethanol in their home cages were observed during intraoral infus ions of an equivalent alcohol solution. Ethanol preference in the home cage appeared unrelated to measures of aversion and ingestion in the taste reactivity tests in normal rats. Adrenalectomy, which significan tly reduced home cage ethanol preference, failed to influence the tast e reactions elicited by ethanol or water. On the other hand, treatment of intact rats with the 5-HT1A receptor agonist ipsapirone (2.5 mg/kg ), a drug that also decreases ethanol drinking in two-bottle intake te sts, did increase the duration of aversive groomings, whereas measures of ingestion remained unaffected. These results suggest that ipsapiro ne, but not adrenalectomy, may alter the palatibility of ethanol; this perceptual change may partly underlie the ability of ipsapirone to re duce home cage alcohol drinking in the rat.