al. 2019). Although the animals used in this study were alcohol-naïve, it is quite possible that mice selected over generations for high vs low alcohol preference could have basal differences in metabolic pathways that alcohol and its metabolites interfere with in the brain. While HAP mice do not demonstrate more efficient basal metabolic clearance of alcohol relative to LAP mice, HAP mice exhibit reduced weights, increased locomotion, and greater preference for saccharin solution than LAP counterparts, possibly indicating basal differences in energetic metabolism may be present (Grahame et al. 2000; Chester et al. 2003; Grahame et al. 1999; Can et al. 2012). Exactly how these metabolic differences in neuronal tissues such as the DS may relate to HAP and LAP AUD-related phenotypes, however, remains unclear at this time.
