As described by Grahame et al. (1999) and Oberlin et al. (2011), replicate lines of high alcohol preferring and low alcohol preferring mice have been selected from HS/Ibg founders. These were long-term selections, continued for >20 generations and achieved considerable segregation of the high and low preferring lines. The characteristics of these mice are described in numerous publications (Oberlin et al. 2011). The HS/Ibg (named for the place of their derivation, the Institute of Behavioral Genetics, Boulder, CO) founders are genetically similar to the HS/NPT (derived at the Northport VAMC, North-port, NY) and have a relatively low genetic diversity when compared with the HS-CC. The STS protocol used in the current study and implanted to minimize the random fixation of genes unrelated to preference is similar to the design found in the studies of Metten et al. (1998, 2014). These studies focused on the effects of selection and the apparent inverse genetic relationship between preference and acute ethanol withdrawal. The current high and low preference lines were tested for differences in acute withdrawal following a 4 g/kg alcohol challenge; none
