Endocrine control of ethanol intake by rats or hamsters: Relative contributions of the ovaries, adrenals and steroids

Abstract

Alcohol intake and preference by female rats decreases during pregnancy or following ovariectomy (OVX) in accordance with a model derived from the saccharine preference literature. However, the present Experiment 1 revealed that ovariectomized rats only modestly increased 4% ethanol preference following subcutaneous implantation of Silastic implants containing estradiol. In Experiment 2, OVX female hamsters actually had greater alcohol preference compared to controls. This information led to the suggestion that ovarian estradiol in rats might be effecting alcohol intake by influencing adrenal corticosteroid release, something that does not occur in female hamsters. Adrenal glucocorticoids are known to profoundly alter sensitivity to taste, olfactory and auditory stimuli. Therefore, groups of rats were sham operated, OVX, adrenalectomized (ADX) or both OVX and ADX to test for the relative endocrine effects on alcohol preference. The rank ordering of preference deficits produced was SH < OVX < ADX < OV-ADX. Reductions in alcohol preference relative to the SH group were about 34% 58% and 75% for the OVX, ADX, and OV-ADX groups, respectively. Daily corticosterone injections increased alcohol preference of the ADX and OVX groups, but not of the OV-ADX animals. The results support the hypothesis of adrenal-ovarian interactive control of ethanol intake, but provide no satisfactory explanation for the diminished alcohol preference during pregnancy.