The societal costs of alcohol and nicotine use disorders are devastating and there remains a critical need for more effective treatment options. The present study establishes the utility of out-bred SD rats in investigating the behavioral effects of voluntary ethanol exposure and provides an opportunity to incorporate electrophysiological studies examining the mechanisms involved in ethanol consumption and seeking in this strain. Additionally, our data provides further evidence that nAChRs play an important role in mediating the effects of nicotine and ethanol and suggests that the smoking cessation aid varenicline may be a promising novel treatment for concomitant alcohol and nicotine dependency in humans.
