In humans, depression susceptibility primes the development of an alcohol‐vulnerable phenotype,4 which is characterized by core manifestations of AUD, including increased intake.1 We showed that in the home cage, SDPS‐prone rats displayed preference for a low concentration of alcohol compared with controls, an effect not observed in the general population of SDPS rats.20 This moderate preference for alcohol was stable across the different alcohol concentrations used, when alcohol was provided ab libitum. This phenomenon, selectively seen in rats that display severe depressive‐like symptoms, could indicate an attempt for self‐medication,24 as it has been long hypothesized based on the anxiolytic properties of alcohol.
