Chunk #57 — 5. Procedures for evaluating pharmacological treatments targeting alcohol abuse and dependence — 5.3. Maintenance of ethanol drinking in the home-cage
Assessing the maintenance of ethanol drinking involves the administration of a compound during ongoing drinking behavior. This is often done under limited access conditions to evaluate the acute effects of the compound on ethanol intake. Although, when conducting a study under 24-hour access conditions ethanol intake can be recorded at different time-points during the day allowing the experimenter to measure the effects of the compound under acute, e.g., the first 1 or 4 h post-administration, and more chronic conditions, e.g., 24 hour intake. As an added benefit, 24 hour access allows the effects of the compound to be examined relative to its temporal bioavailability (e.g., absorption, transit across the blood brain barrier, and metabolism) and aftereffects. In a proof-of-concept study, the effects of aripiprazole, a partial D2 as well as 5-HT1A agonist and 5-HT2 antagonist (Kenna et al., 2009), were examined during the maintenance of ethanol intake by adult male P and adult male HAD1 rats (first 2 h of the dark cycle). Results indicated that five consecutive days of intraperitoneal injections of a low dose (15 mg/kg), but not
