Elsevier

Alcohol

Volume 17, Issue 3, April 1999, Pages 175-183
Alcohol

Articles
Ethanol Consumption by C57BL/6 Mice: Influence of Gender and Procedural Variables

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0741-8329(98)00055-XGet rights and content

Abstract

Both sexes of C57BL/6 (C57) mice consumed substantial quantities of ethanol without food or water deprivation whether access was continuous or limited. Food deprivation increased the amount of ethanol consumed, and the amount consumed depended upon when the animals were tested with reference to their daily food allotment. Ethanol consumption was greater if the mice were tested postprandially, high thirst motivation, rather than preprandially (∼10 vs. ∼4.5 g/kg/30 min). Preference for ethanol over water, however, was greater when mice were under low thirst motivation (i.e., tested preprandially or with water available during the test). Compared to males, female mice consumed more of a high-ethanol concentration solution (10%) when access was continuous or limited to the first hour of the dark (active) phase of the circadian cycle. Also, in contrast to males, female mice exhibited increased ethanol consumption across days of drinking experience. Finally, although ethanol consumption under the food deprivation conditions of this experiment did not differ according to sex, females had higher blood ethanol concentrations than male C57 mice, a finding not previously reported for rodents but common to humans.

Section snippets

Experiment 1. ethanol consumption during free and limited access (60 min) with no food or water deprivation

In this experiment, ethanol consumption was determined when it was continuously available (24-h or during the 12-h high-activity dark period) or was limited to 60-min periods during the light (inactive) or the dark (active) circadian phases with food and water available ad lib. Both the free and the limited access procedures have been used previously to evaluate ethanol consumption by C57 mice; however, the latter procedure has been used only for male mice. Thus, this experiment replicates

Experiment 2. ethanol consumption by food deprived male and female mice during 30-min limited-access periods

In this experiment, the influence of thirst and hunger motivation on ethanol consumption by the two sexes was assessed. Food deprivation increases the self-administration of most abused drugs, including ethanol 5, 6, 9. Ethanol consumption is also greater during food ingestion than at other times for male mice (11) and rats (35), and responding for ethanol reward is greater if mice are tested post- rather than preprandially 13, 14. These studies indicate that motivational states related to

General discussion

The present study contributes to the characterization of the C57 murine model of alcohol use or abuse by establishing some variables which influence sex differences in ethanol consumption. The study confirms previous reports that C57 mice will consume large quantities of continuously available ethanol without food or water deprivation, and without masking its taste with sweeteners 3, 7, 20, 22, 29, 38. The study also extends previous studies by establishing that female, as well as male, C57

Acknowledgements

This study was supported by Grants AA10761 and AA07474 awarded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. The authors thank Marilyn Ruotolo for assistance with manuscript preparation.

References (39)

  • C.L. Randall et al.

    Alcohol sensitivity in female miceEffect of ovariectomy

    Pharmacol. Biochem. Behav.

    (1981)
  • K.E. Russell et al.

    Sex and strain as factors in voluntary alcohol intake

    Physiol. Behav.

    (1973)
  • H.H. Samson et al.

    Ethanol drinking patterns in a continuous-access operant situationEffects of ethanol concentration and response requirements

    Alcohol

    (1992)
  • H.H. Samson et al.

    Relation of ethanol self-administration to feeding and drinking in a nonrestricted access situation in rats initiated to self-administer ethanol using the sucrose-fading technique

    Alcohol

    (1988)
  • P.B. Sutker et al.

    Acute alcohol intoxication, mood states and alcohol metabolism in women and men

    Pharmacol. Biochem. Behav.

    (1983)
  • E. Ammon et al.

    Disposition and first-pass metabolism of ethanol in humansIs it gastric or hepatic and does it depend on gender?

    Clin. Pharmacol. Ther.

    (1996)
  • A.A. Bachmanov et al.

    Ethanol consumption and taste preferences in C57BL/6ByJ and 129/J mice

    Alcohol. Clin. Exp. Res.

    (1996)
  • J.K. Belknap et al.

    Voluntary consumption of ethanol in 15 inbred mouse strains

    Psychopharmacology (Berlin)

    (1993)
  • S.B. Blume

    Women, alcohol, and drugs

  • Cited by (128)

    View all citing articles on Scopus
    View full text