Chunk #42 — 4. Selectively bred high alcohol-consuming rat lines and their phenotypic characteristics — 4.6. Selectively bred rat lines and some family history positive correlates
also influences the expression of brain regional activation following an acute ethanol challenge (Trim et al., 2010). Moreover, an individual’s level of response to ethanol is directly associated with whether they carry the long- vs. short-allelle for the 5-HT transporter (5htt, the 5 is used in the present paper to distinguish the gene from Huntingtin, which is htt) gene and this association has significant predictive validity for the level of alcohol intake displayed by adolescents (Hinckers et al., 2006). Thus, these animal models of alcoholism can serve as model platforms for screening compounds targeting particular subpopulations of alcoholics when the neurobiological or neurobehavioral phenotypes of the target population overlap with those present in one or more rat line. For instance, it has been shown that both male (Bell et al., 2002) and female (Bell et al., 2008b) P rats display autonomic activation, as indicated by increased heart rate, during ethanol drinking. In addition, this autonomic reactivity could be conditioned to the environment in which ethanol was consumed (Bell et al., 2002, 2008b). These findings parallel the substantial clinical literature on cue-reactivity (autonomic reactivity to alcohol-associated cues) and its association with craving and alcohol abuse (Childress et al., 1993; Drummond et
