To confirm behavioural consequences of exposure, 10 exposed and eight control animals were randomly selected from the respective batch, and tested for voluntary alcohol consumption 3 wk after exposure. Two-bottle, free-choice, continuous access alcohol in 0.2% saccharin vs. 0.2% saccharin-only was assessed after a 3-wk resting period that followed the last exposure cycle as described. One week was allowed to gradually increase the alcohol concentration to 6% (w/v), i.e. 3 d with 2% and 4 d with 4% alcohol, followed by a 2-wk testing period. These animals were not used for the histological analysis because of the possibility that their differential voluntary alcohol consumption may confound estimates of proliferation and neurogenesis. The consumption data have constituted a part of a previous publication (Sommer et al. 2008).
