Journal of Alcoholism & Drug Dependence
Open Access

Abstract

Anxiolytic Effect of Voluntarily Consumed Alcohol in Sardinian Alcohol- Preferring Rats Exposed to the Social Interaction Test

Carla Lobina, Gian Luigi Gessa and Giancarlo Colombo

Sardinian alcohol-preferring (sP) rats have been selectively bred for high alcohol preference and consumption. Beside alcohol preference, sP rats display inherent high levels of anxiety-related behaviors (evidenced under multiple experimental procedures).The present study was designed to evaluate whether voluntarily consumed alcohol exerted an anxiolytic effect in adult, male sP rats exposed to the social interaction (SI) test. Alcohol-consuming rats were given alcohol under the homecage 2-bottle “alcohol (10%, v/v) vs water” choice regimen with unlimited access for 15 consecutive days. The SI test was conducted on Day 15 of alcohol drinking, one hour into the dark phase of the daily light/dark cycle. Alcohol intake in alcohol-consuming rats averaged approximately 0.9 g/kg in this first hour of the dark phase. Pairs (n=11) of alcohol-consuming rats displayed approximately 3-fold longer times of SI than pairs (n=10) of alcohol-naive rats. These data(a) suggest that voluntarily alcohol intake exerted an anxiolytic effect in sP rats, (b) extend to a different procedure of experimental “anxiety” previous results obtained using the elevated plus maze test, and (c) strengthen the hypothesis that anxiolysis may represent one of the alcohol effects that drive sP rats to consume high amounts of alcohol.