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Reinforcing properties of alcohol in rats: Progressive ratio licking performance reinforced with 66% alcohol
- Source :
- Physiology & Behavior. 235:113393
- Publication Year :
- 2021
- Publisher :
- Elsevier BV, 2021.
-
Abstract
- Rodents are generally reluctant to consume high concentrations of alcohol. However, few experiments have reported the behavior of rats when they are given access to high alcohol concentrations. Four experiments with food-deprived Wistar rats were designed to determine whether 66% alcohol could be used as a positive reinforcer for operant responses. In Experiment 1, animals learned to lick an empty sipper to gain access to 66% alcohol in a second tube; licking extinguished after it if provided a only access to water (operant licking task, OL). Experiment 2 used the OL task combined with a progressive ratio (PR) schedule in a within-subject design with the order of alcohol concentrations counterbalanced across subjects. The breakpoint (the last completed ratio in the PR schedule) was higher for 10% and 66% alcohol concentrations than for water. In Experiment 3, animals trained in the same PR task gained access to water, 10%, or 66% alcohol in a between-subject design. Breakpoints were higher for 66% alcohol than for water, but not for 10% alcohol relative to water. Experiment 4 tested the effects of the orexin-1 receptor antagonist SB-334,867 on licking reinforced with access to 66% alcohol in the PR task. The antagonist reduced the breakpoint at 1- and 5-mg/kg doses, but not at 10 mg/kg. These results suggest that 66% alcohol can be used to reinforce operant behavior. Although the effects were modest, they were reliable. The estimated amount of alcohol consumed in the OL task suggests that these reinforcing effects were not dependent on the pharmacological effects of 66% alcohol, but could perhaps reflect a sensation-seeking effect.
- Subjects :
- Self Administration
Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Alcohol
Positive Reinforcer
03 medical and health sciences
Behavioral Neuroscience
chemistry.chemical_compound
0302 clinical medicine
SB-334867
Animal science
Animals
Learning
Medicine
0501 psychology and cognitive sciences
050102 behavioral science & comparative psychology
Rats, Wistar
Behavior, Animal
Ethanol
business.industry
05 social sciences
Antagonist
Rats
chemistry
High alcohol
Conditioning, Operant
Progressive ratio
Licking
business
psychological phenomena and processes
030217 neurology & neurosurgery
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 00319384
- Volume :
- 235
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Physiology & Behavior
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....c7af76fcb46f751b4df2803f007d39e8