reported that systemic administration of a lower dose range of OXT (0.1–0.5 mg/kg) reduced operant alcohol self-administration in rats. Peripheral OXT treatment in a higher dose range (1–10 mg/kg) reduced alcohol consumption in male and female prairie voles that had two-bottle choice free-access to 15% alcohol (Stevenson et al., 2017a). In a continuous access paradigm, systemic OXT administration decreased alcohol intake in the first hour after treatment but had no significant effect on consumption over a 24-hour period (Stevenson et al., 2017a). Most recently, Tunstall et al. (2019) demonstrated that both systemic (intraperitoneal; ip.) and central (intracerebroventricular; icv.) OXT administration blocked escalated alcohol drinking and the enhanced motivation for alcohol in alcohol-dependent rats without altering these behaviors in nondependent rats. This effect was also replicated with intranasal administration of OXT (Tunstall et al., 2019).
