Ethanol consumption by a rat in their home-cage can be used to model the type of excessive alcohol consumption that occurs in humans. Home-cage testing allows a researcher to determine how well a therapeutic agent can curb ethanol intake when water and food are also available as is typical in the clinical condition. The ability of a compound to prevent or moderate the acquisition of ethanol intake can be examined in high-alcohol drinking rats who are alcohol naïve at the start of home-cage testing. The ability to delay the onset of alcohol abuse may ultimately reduce the severity of alcohol dependence later in life. In addition, the ability of the compound to both reduce ethanol intake once home-cage drinking has been acquired (i.e., maintenance drinking) as well as prevent relapse drinking after a period of abstinence can also be examined. This ability to evaluate a compound during these different drinking phases is a significant benefit of home-cage drinking procedures. It is important to consider, however, that it is very difficult to differentiate nonspecific effects (taste aversion, sedation, motor impairment, interactions
