to 100 mg/dl), indicating similar ethanol clearance between these strains. As noted in our previous work, Wistar rats have to consume more ethanol in order to reach similar BECs to Long-Evans rats which may, at least partially, explain the differences in intake (Simms et al., 2008). In addition to high intake levels and BECs, our findings also revealed a higher preference for 20% ethanol vs. 10% ethanol, an effect demonstrated in previous work (Amit et al., 1970; Simms et al., 2008). The high ethanol intake levels and preference observed in SD rats in the present study reiterates the 20% ethanol intermittent-access as a robust model for inducing high ethanol intake in a traditionally low consuming strain.
