sipper tube access found that SR treatment reduced responding for both ethanol and sucrose (Freedland et al., 2001). Economidou et al (2006) reported a similar dose-dependent reduction in sucrose- and ethanol-associated lever presses following SR treatment, and this effect was not due to motoric impairment by SR. In Sardinian alcohol-preferring rats, SR injection reduced both ethanol and food consumption while only affecting water intake at the highest dose used (10mg/kg; Colombo et al., 1998), and similar results were obtained from AA rats trained to self-administer ethanol in an operant chamber (Hansson et al., 2007). Interestingly a subsequent self-administration study in Wistar and msP rats replicated the findings that that SR reduced ethanol, saccharin, and sucrose intake, but it failed to reduce food intake (Cippitelli et al., 2005). These authors also reported reduced levels of CB1 mRNA in several brain regions including frontoparietal cortex, dorsal striatum, and hippocampus in msP rats that was normalized following ethanol consumption. Using another in-bred alcohol preferring rat strain, Adams et al (2010) reported that low doses of SR that did not alter ethanol self-administration on their own could be combined with sub-threshold doses of either an adenosine A2A or mGluR5 antagonist to reduce ethanol responding.
