Chunk #21 — 4. Selectively bred high alcohol-consuming rat lines and their phenotypic characteristics — 4.2. Alcohol-preferring and alcohol-nonpreferring rats
The alcohol-preferring, P, and alcohol-nonpreferring, NP, rat lines were developed by mass selection from a closed-colony Wistar foundation stock at the Walter Reed Army Hospital and transferred to the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA (Lumeng et al., 1977). Regarding criteria for an animal model of alcoholism, P rats readily consume greater than 5 g/kg/day of ethanol, whereas NP rats consume less than 1 g/kg/day with food and water available ad libitum (Li et al., 1987). Moreover, P rats attain pharmacologically relevant blood alcohol concentrations (BACs, 50 to 200 mg%: this would approximate .05 to .20 in clinical terms) under 24-h and limited access conditions (Bell et al., 2006, 2008a, 2011; Murphy et al., 1986, 2002; Rodd et al., 2003). Ethanol-drinking in the home-cage also results in intoxication, as measured by motor impairment using an oscillating bar apparatus (Bell et al., 2000, 2001), with the development and expression of tolerance to this effect after chronic drinking (Bell et al., 2011). P rats self-administer ethanol intragastrically for its post-ingestive effects, thus, limiting the role of taste and smell
