Overview of test sequence. Each mouse was singly housed on arrival and was given at least 1 week to acclimate before testing. The testing was carried out over a period of 3 days. Half of the mice were given saline on Day 2 and an ethanol injection (2.25 g/kg) on Day 3. For the other half of the mice, the order of injection was reversed with ethanol on Day 2 and saline on Day 3. On Day 1, all mice were trained on the rotarod, as described below. On Day 2, mice were weighed and given the appropriate injection. Ten minutes after the injection, mice were given a 5-min test in the elevated plus maze followed immediately by a 20-min test in the activity chamber. After the activity chamber, mice were tested on the rotarod and blood was taken to measure blood ethanol concentration (BEC). Mice were then returned to the home cage and animal room until testing the next day. On Day 3, order of testing was identical to the second except that the elevated plus maze was not conducted.
