Effect of adrenalectomy and exposure to corticosterone on alcohol intake in alcohol-preferring and alcohol-avoiding rat lines

The daily fluid intake of male rats of the alcohol-preferring (AA) and alco hol-avoiding (ANA) lines with simultaneous access to 10% (v/v) ethanol and water was determined during a baseline period (2 weeks), following adrenale ctomy (1 week), and for 2 weeks following corticosterone treatment. The res ults showed that adrenalectomized AA rats decreased their ethanol intake co mpared to the sham-operated AA controls and that treatment with corticoster one restored the intake of ethanol to that observed during the baseline per iod. In contrast to the AA rats, there were no alterations in ethanol intak e after adrenalectomy and following corticosterone replacement in the ANA r ats. These results suggest that corticosterone stimulates ethanol intake in animals with pronounced high preference for ethanol.