I stand corrected! My experience with getting lab rats to consume ethanol was that ethanol/water solutions in any significant concentration are aversive. You either have to sweeten the water significantly or use some sort of SIP procedure coupled with a gradual increase in ethanol concentration. I did not find that simply making 20% ethanol available concurrently with water (as implied by the authors) would result in significant consumption, as is implied in the study (which references studies by Wise and by Sims, et.al. for detailed procedures). On the other hand, if water were -not- concurrently available, the rats would probably consume the 20% ethanol solution.
On the other hand, I did find the Sims article online describing their procedure, which they claim did work. They explicitly say the water was available ad libitum (which I assume means concurrently, not simply after the experimental session) and that sucrose fading was not necessary. If I still had a lab I'd try it! On Jan 7, 2014, at 7:37 PM, William Scott wrote: > I don't think they were using Falk's technique which was the induction of > polydipsia in response to intermittent schedules of food reward. They used > simple intermittent availability of the ethanol to pump up consumption. But > what bothers me about their study is they seem to have no control group of > rats given the optic stimulation but not previously given the virus -- a > group that would be expected to have no specific dopamine response to the > light. Because the light stimulation was very different for induction of > "phasic" vs. "tonic" dopamine responses, the behavioral response might just > be a disruption of routine with one optical stimulus as opposed to the other, > something not likely to have meaning for application to human binge drinkers. > > Bill Scott > > > From: Paul Brandon <[email protected]> > Sent: Tuesday, January 07, 2014 1:35 PM > To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) > Subject: Re: [tips] What Binge Drinking In Rats Can Teach Us > > Looks like they were using John Falk's old schedule induced polydipsia > technique which he introduced in the 1950's. > I used it to generate large scale voluntary ethanol consumption in rats in > the 1960's. > They did cite H.H.Samson, who was part of the same research hierarchy. > We were more interested in the behavioral consequences of chronic ethanol > consumption. > > On Jan 7, 2014, at 10:14 AM, Mike Palij wrote: > >> In another article on CNET, I was surprised to find a neuroscience >> article that (a) was based on a new technique used in the study of >> alcohol consumption of rats and (b) how the use of light (optogentics) >> could be used to stop alcohol drinking in rats. The CNET article >> can be accessed here: >> http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-57616706-76/lights-neurons-action-binge-drinking-lab-rats-go-cold-turkey/ >> >> The article it is based on is in Frontier in Neuroscience which can >> be accessed here: >> http://www.frontiersin.org/behavioral_neuroscience/10.3389/fnbeh.2013.00173/abstract >> >> I'm not sure what the implications are for human beings but it >> does suggests that certain types of addiction might be easier to >> treat than previously thought. Or not. Paul Brandon Emeritus Professor of Psychology Minnesota State University, Mankato [email protected] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=32509 or send a blank email to leave-32509-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
