Sex differences in the acute effects of cigarette smoking on the reinforcing value of alcohol

Alcohol consumption acutely increases smoking behavior, but the reverse rel ationship, the acute effects of smoking on alcohol intake, largely has been ignored. We examined whether smoking acutely increases the reinforcing val ue of alcohol, first in the absence of recent alcohol intake and then follo wing an alcohol pre-load. Healthy, social-drinking smokers (n = 11 men, 14 women) engaged in a computerized task involving concurrent schedules of rei nforcement for beer (FR10, 3 oz (90 ml) per reinforcement) or money (FR5 to FR30, $0.20 per reinforcement) during two sessions, one following day-long ad lib smoking and the other following overnight smoking abstinence. Durin g each session, subjects performed the task in two sets of trials, one befo re and one after consumption of an alcohol pre-load, with 60 min between se ts. To standardize the alcohol pre-load, all subjects were led to believe t hat they had earned 9 oz (270 ml) of beer after the first trial set, which they then consumed before the second set of trials. Compared to responding during the abstinent session, responding for alcohol during the smoking ses sion was no different before the alcohol pre-load (trial set one) but was s ignificantly greater following the alcohol pre-load (trial set two), althou gh only in men and not women. Subjective sedation after the alcohol pre-loa d was attenuated during the smoking session in both men and women, but atte nuated sedation due to smoking was related to subsequent alcohol-reinforced responding only in men. Additional research is needed to determine the ext ent to which these effects in men are pharmacological in nature or are cond itioned responses to smoking or to consuming a preferred alcoholic beverage . (C) 2000 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.