Chunk #58 — 5. Procedures for evaluating pharmacological treatments targeting alcohol abuse and dependence — 5.3. Maintenance of ethanol drinking in the home-cage
examined during the maintenance of ethanol intake by adult male P and adult male HAD1 rats (first 2 h of the dark cycle). Results indicated that five consecutive days of intraperitoneal injections of a low dose (15 mg/kg), but not higher doses (45 or 90 mg/kg), reduced ethanol drinking on the fourth and fifth days of treatment in P, but not HAD1, rats (K.M. Franklin, personal communication). When the effects of aripiprazole were examined in AA rats, a dose of 6.0 mg/kg transiently reduced limited access (4 h/day) ethanol intake after chronic systemic treatment (Ingman et al., 2006). In another study from our laboratory, the effects of antalarmin, a CRF1 receptor antagonist, on ethanol drinking were evaluated in adult male and female P rats under limited (first 2 h of the dark cycle) and 24-h access conditions, respectively (Heilig and Egli, 2006; L.G. Carr, personal communication). Findings from this study indicated that 20 mg/kg of antalarmin, administered intraperitoneally, significantly reduced ethanol intake on the 2nd, 4th and 5th of 5 days of treatment in male P rats and the 2nd day of 3 days of treatment in female P rats.
