LPS treatment has been shown to induce neuronal apoptosis in the olfactory bulb in mice (Mori et al., 2010) and changes in the dopamine content in the anterior olfactory nucleus (Ota et al., 2008). These findings raise the concern that changes in alcohol consumption could result from a loss of olfactory perception of ethanol. Because there are few studies of ethanol olfaction, we used two different tests to assess olfactory function in the present study. A modification of the buried food pellet test was employed except that a cotton ball soaked in 20% ethanol was used instead of a Purina mouse chow pellet (Nathan et al., 2004). The buried pellet test reveals the mouse’s ability to learn to detect and find palatable food. Individually housed mice were food restricted and maintained at ~90% body weight for 5 d prior to and during testing. Food-restricted mice were given 3–4 g of mouse chow per animal per day depending on weight. To associate the odor of ethanol with the source of food, the piece of Purina chow was placed on the top
