Together, and especially in the highly consistent CTA data, these findings suggest that low genetic sensitivity to some aversive effects of alcohol accompanies a tendency to prefer alcohol solutions. Data linking effects of alcohol in place conditioning paradigms are more sparse and less consistent. Partly, these studies are complicated by a species difference, whereas rats tend to develop place aversions to an alcohol cue, mice tend to develop CPP (Cunningham, Phillips 2003). Interestingly, mice have been shown to develop either CPP or CPA depending on the timing of the administration of alcohol. This has been attributed to an initial short-lived aversion to alcohol’s stimulus effects, followed by a delayed, positive response to the drug (Cunningham et al. 2002). This raises the possibility that a place conditioning measures could be used in mice to dissociate the perceived subjective effects of alcohol on the rising vs the falling limb of the BAL curve.
