Abstract
Drinking in the dark (DID) is a limited access ethanol-drinking phenotype in mice. High Drinking in the Dark (HDID-1) mice have been bred for 27 selected generations (S27) for elevated blood ethanol concentrations (BECs) after a 4-h period of access to 20% ethanol. A second replicate line (HDID-2) was started later from the same founder population and is currently in S20. An initial report of response to selection in HDID-1 was published after S11. This article reports genetic and behavioral characteristics of both lines in comparison with the HS controls. Heritability is low in both replicates (h2=0.09) but the lines have shown 4-5 fold increases in BEC since S0; 80% of HDID-1 and 60% of HDID-2 mice reach BECs greater than 1.0mg/ml. Several hours after a DID test, HDID mice show mild signs of withdrawal. Although not considered during selection, intake of ethanol (g/kg) during the DID test increased by approximately 80% in HDID-1 and 60% in HDID-2. Common genetic influences were more important than environmental influences in determining the similarity between BEC and intake for HDID mice. Analysis of the partitioning of intake showed that 60% of intake is concentrated in the last 2h of the 4h session. However, this has not changed during selection. Hourly BECs during the DID test reach peak levels after 3 or 4h of drinking. HDID mice do not differ from HS mice in their rate of elimination of an acute dose of alcohol.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 236-246 |
Number of pages | 11 |
Journal | Genes, Brain and Behavior |
Volume | 13 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Feb 2014 |
Keywords
- Binge
- Ethanol consumption
- Ethanol withdrawal
- Genetics
- Selective breeding
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Genetics
- Neurology
- Behavioral Neuroscience