Rapid establishment of ethanol as a reinforcer for rats

PsychopharmacologyPublished 1 January 1974

Richard A. Meisch, Travis Thompson

DOI10.1007/bf00428917

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Citations53

SJR quartileQ1

SJR score1.16

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TL;DR

After one previous session with ethanol, rats' responding for ethanol during the first 2 h of a session substantially exceed water baseline rates, indicating that ethanol had been established as a reinforcer, and results confirm that ethanol was functioning asa reinforcer.

Abstract

Daily 6-h sessions were run during which each lever press by rats produced brief access to water, or to 8‡/0 (W/V) ethanol on experimental days. Food pellets were presented noncontingently on a 1 min fixed-time schedule during the last, 4 h of each session. A stable baseline of water responding developed, characterized by little or no responding during the first 2 h followed by high rates and schedule-induced polydipsic drinking during the last 4 h. Following the development of a stable water baseline, 8% (W/V) ethanol was substituted for water on alternate days. After one previous session with ethanol, rats' responding for ethanol during the first 2 h of a session substantially exceed water baseline rates, indicating that ethanol had been established as a reinforcer. Subsequently, when food pellet presentations were discontinued, and the ethanol concentration was increased from 8 to 16 to 32% (W/V), ethanol intake persisted at values exceeding water control levels; these results confirm that ethanol was functioning as a reinforcer.

Keywords

MedicineNeuroscienceBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

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