Following the 15-d acquisition/maintenance of 2CAP, a group of Wistar (N = 3) and P rats (N = 4) with matched 15 d 2CAP alcohol consumption history (P = 1.31 ± 0.06 g/kg; Wistar = 1.25 ± 0.06 g/kg, mean ± SEM) were selected for electrophysiological experiments, and were unilaterally implanted with multi-tetrode arrays in the mPFC (Linsenbardt and Lapish, 2015). This matching was conducted for three principle reasons. First, the use of rats that will reliably consume/self-administer excessive amounts of alcohol under limited access conditions is a prerequisite to identifying how such alcohol consumption alters neurophysiological processes. It is not possible to assess the effects of alcohol consumption in populations that do not drink alcohol. Second, matching for alcohol consumption reduced the possibility that any observed differences in physiology were not simply due to differences in alcohol experience. Finally, these matched populations of rodents are directly comparable to human studies in which groups of family history positive and family history negative individuals are matched for drinking history (Kareken et al., 2010).
