We show that SD rats, a strain that is not traditionally utilized for voluntary, oral ethanol intake studies because of their low ethanol consumption, will self-administer high amounts of 20% ethanol without the use of sucrose fading or home cage fluid deprivation in both a two-bottle choice and operant drinking paradigm. The intake levels were significantly greater in comparison to animals trained to consume 10% ethanol using a continuous-access protocol with sucrose fading and were maintained for several weeks. We then show that both 0.2mg/kg and 0.8mg/kg nicotine increase 20% ethanol operant responding; an effect which is attenuated by pretreatment with varenicline, a partial agonist at nAChRs.
