Regulation of alcohol consumption in mice is highly dependent on the genetic background (Belknap et al., 1993: Yoneyama et al., 2008; Blednov et al., in press), and thus it is not surprising that the effects of LPS also depended upon the mouse strain. However, there is no obvious relationship between genetic differences in initial drinking of ethanol and the effect of LPS. For example, the largest effect of LPS was seen in the moderately drinking B6xNZBF1 hybrid, but the low-drinking FVB strain did not show any effect of LPS. It is interesting that the B6xNZBF1 mice reduced their alcohol consumption after periods of deprivation, whereas the FVB mice increased consumption. It is possible that genetic differences in LPS actions are related to these positive or negative alcohol- deprivation effects.
