Taste perception is a critical factor in determining ethanol consumption in two-bottle choice paradigm. The existence of a positive relationship between ethanol and sweet intake has been known for more than 40 years (Rodgers et al., 1963). Deletion of several genes involved in detection of sweet taste leads to a substantial reduction of alcohol intake without any changes in pharmacological actions of ethanol (Blednov et al., 2008). However, pretreatment with LPS did not produce changes in preference for sweet solutions of saccharin, which could explain the increased ethanol consumptions.
