Altered consumption of ethanol could potentially result from altered olfactory sensitivity. We used a buried-target test, to compare the latency to locate a Petri dish with odor of ethanol buried beneath the bedding or placed on its surface. The ability to locate the “buried odor” of ethanol improved over days of observation [F(1, 18) = 10.5, p < .01, main effect of time]. However, no effect of LPS pretreatment was found in B6 male mice (Fig. 7A). Also, no differences between groups were found in their ability to locate the visible (with or without ethanol) target. The ability to locate the odor of ethanol overall depended on concentration of ethanol [F(3, 54) = 4.8, p < .01, main effect of concentration] but did not depend on pretreatment (Fig. 7B). Both groups of B6 male mice were able to discriminate the novel (10% ethanol) odor from familiar (own) odor [F(1, 34) = 14.9, p < .001, main effect of novelty] without differences between groups (Fig. 7C). In contrast, in B6 female mice their ability to uncover the “buried odor” of ethanol
