Thus, in mice (and probably in rats), we have no clear idea which assay(s) we should employ to model human LR body sway. Three types of rodent behavioral assessments after an alcohol challenge have been suggested in various publications to model the LR phenotype in humans—locomotor stimulation (discussed later along with heart rate activation and EEG effects); “ataxia” (using many different assays, some of which were just discussed); and loss of righting reflex (LORR). When mice or rats are given a high dose of alcohol and are placed on their back a few second later, they are unable to roll over onto their stomach, an action which is called the righting reflex (RR). The duration of the LORR (or, more accurately, the brain alcohol concentration at which the RR is lost) differs subtantially across genotypes (McClearn, Kakihana 1981;Browman, Crabbe 2000;Draski, Deitrich 1996). We correlated the published inbred strain withdrawal severity and preference drinking data with the aforementioned 18 indices of strain sensitivity to alcohol stimulated (motor) activity, alcohol intoxication on the “ataxia” measures, and alcohol-induced LORR [the latter collated in
