Chunk #39 — 4. Selectively bred high alcohol-consuming rat lines and their phenotypic characteristics — 4.5. University of Chile B and University of Chile A rats
and sP rats, the UChB line of rats displays locomotor activation after low-dose ethanol, whereas the UChA line does not (Quintanilla, 1999). Although there is information on the effects of endogenous levels of, and exogenous treatments affecting, alcohol dehydrogenase, aldehyde dehydrogenase, and acetaldehyde on ethanol intake for these lines (Tampier and Quintanilla, 2002a); there has been very little published on innate neurotransmitter/neuromodulator differences between the UChB and UChA rats. Two studies examining monoamine levels in the Acb shell of UChB vs. UChA rats found that UChB rats had lower basal levels of DA and its metabolites (Quintanilla et al., 2007), but not 5-HT, than UChA rats and moderate-dose ethanol-induced extracellular DA levels were much higher in UChB than in UChA rats (Bustamante et al., 2008). These findings, as it pertains to DA, are similar to those observed in the AA, HAD and P rat lines. In general, it is recognized that elevated levels of acetaldehyde are aversive. Thus, genetic differences in alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) and/or ALDH can play a protective or permissive role in the development of alcohol abuse and dependence by increasing or decreasing blood acetaldehyde levels, respectively (Eriksson, 2001; Quintanilla et al., 2006). In summary, while research with
