Similar to the liquid diet model, ethanol can also be administered through the drinking water (Figure 1). This is usually achieved by training female mice or rats to voluntarily consume a saccharin-sweetened 10% ethanol solution prior to pregnancy (68, 91). Control groups receive saccharin-sweetened water only. Throughout pregnancy the rodents have ad libitum access to regular rat chow. Following birth, ethanol is removed from the water in a step-wise fashion to prevent ethanol withdrawal effects (68, 91). Using this paradigm, rodents tend to consume 14 g ethanol/kg/day and the BAC achieved is 120 mg/dl (68, 91).
