All rats were provided with access to food, water, a 15% (v/v) alcohol solution and a 30 % (v/v) alcohol solution. Alcohol access was introduced using a “step-down” procedure as previously described (Froehlich et al., 2013a, b, 2016), and illustrated in Figure 1, to maximize alcohol intake during a daily 2-hour alcohol access period. After alcohol intake stabilized during the daily 2 hour alcohol access period, all rats were given imposed alcohol deprivation for 2 weeks followed by 2 weeks of reaccess to alcohol for 2 hours a day and this cycle of alcohol access followed by alcohol deprivation was repeated for a total of 3 cycles. During alcohol access, rats were given a daily 2-hour concurrent free-choice between 2 concentrations of alcohol (15% and 30% v/v) from 1000 hours (onset of dark) to 1200 hours, 7 days a week. The following indices were recorded: daily alcohol intake (g/kg BW/2 hour) and water intake (ml/kg BW/day), and semiweekly body weight (g) for the duration of the study.
