Recent research efforts have focused on studying genes that may regulate EROs associated with increased susceptibility to alcohol dependence. Studies have shown that alcohol dependent individuals manifest significantly less evoked theta and delta ERO power than age-matched controls (Jones et al., 2006a). Rangaswamy et al. (2007a) showed that adolescent offspring of alcohol dependent individuals have reduced delta and theta ERO power. Findings from those studies suggest that a decrease in theta and delta EROs may antecede the development of alcohol dependence. Studies have shown significant linkage and association between frontal theta ERO power and the cholinergic muscarinic receptor gene (CHRM2) on chromosome 7 (Jones et al., 2004, 2006b). There is also evidence to suggest a significant association between the parietal delta ERO power and CHRM2 (Jones et al., 2004, 2006b). However, the relationship between an alcohol preference phenotype and changes in EROs are not well understood in genetic mouse models of high and low alcohol preference. The present study sought to examine whether EROs generated by auditory stimuli differentiated mice differing in traits known to influence their amount of alcohol consumption.
