E. Koros et al., Development of alcohol deprivation effect in rats: Lack of correlation with saccharin drinking and locomotor activity, ALC ALCOHOL, 34(4), 1999, pp. 542-550
The present study addressed the relationship between the parameters of sacc
harin drinking behaviour and locomotor activity in an open field environmen
t and long-term alcohol self-administration. In a 22-day initiation phase,
male Wistar rats were presented with increasing concentrations of ethanol (
2-8%, v/v) in a choice with water. The rats were then given the choice betw
een water and two ethanol solutions (8 and 16%). Every 28 days, ethanol was
withdrawn for 5 days. The ethanol intake and the transient increase in eth
anol consumption after each of six deprivation episodes (alcohol deprivatio
n effect) was monitored and correlated with parameters of the subsequent sa
ccharin drinking and open field tests. The total ethanol intake (g/kg/24 h)
as well as the consumption of 16% ethanol were stable over time. However,
the magnitude of the alcohol deprivation effect increased with the repeated
deprivation episodes. None of the parameters measured in the open field or
the saccharin drinking tests correlated with either ethanol consumption or
the alcohol deprivation effect. These results suggest that (1) repeated ep
isodes of ethanol deprivation may increase the magnitude of the alcohol dep
rivation effect, (2) neither saccharin drinking nor locomotor activity corr
elates with long-term ethanol drinking behaviour in rats.