Number Of Drinking Bouts Research Articles

Identification of subpopulations of prairie voles differentially susceptible to peer influence to decrease high alcohol intake

Peer influences are critical in the decrease of alcohol (ethanol) abuse and maintenance of abstinence. We previously developed an animal model of inhibitory peer influences on ethanol drinking using prairie voles and here sought to understand whether this influential behavior was due to specific changes in drinking patterns and to variation in a microsatellite sequence in the regulatory region of the vasopressin receptor 1a gene (avpr1a). Adult prairie voles’ drinking patterns were monitored in a lickometer apparatus that recorded each lick a subject exhibited during continuous access to water and 10% ethanol during periods of isolation, pair housing of high and low drinkers, and subsequent isolation. Analysis of fluid consumption confirmed previous results that high drinkers typically decrease ethanol intake when paired with low drinkers, but that a subset of voles do not decrease. Analysis of bout structure revealed differences in the number of ethanol drinking bouts in the subpopulations of high drinkers when paired with low drinkers. Lickometer drinking patterns analyzed by visual and by cross-correlation analyses demonstrated that pair housing did not increase the rate of subjects drinking in bouts occurring at the same time. The length of the avpr1a microsatellite did not predict susceptibility to peer influence or any other drinking behaviors. In summary, subpopulations of high drinkers were identified, by fluid intake and number of drinking bouts, which did or did not lower their ethanol intake when paired with a low drinking peer, and these subpopulations should be explored for testing the efficacy of treatments to decrease ethanol use in groups that are likely to be responsive to different types of therapy.

Influence of food and water deprivation on the behavior of the white rat foraging in a hostile environment

Rats were trained to feed 2 hr per day, the food offered being placed at 16 m from a warm refuge and the ambient temperature being −15°C. They were food deprived for 0, 12, 22, 46, 70 and 94 hr prior to the six feeding sessions. Speed of feeding and meal duration were not influenced by food deprivation. The amount eaten, the number of meals, the time spent at the feeder, the speed of running to the feeder and the number of foraging rats increased from 0 hr fast to 22 hr then plateaued for the 46, 70 and 96 hr fasts. The same experiment was carried out after water deprivation for 0, 12, 22, 46 and 70 hr. Rats could find, at −15°C, water kept at 30–40°C and at 16 m from their warm refuge. The speed of running to water and the rate of drinking were not influenced by water deprivation. The amount drunk, drinking-bout duration, the number of drinking-bouts, total drinking time and the number of rats drinking increased monotonically from 0 to 70 hr deprivation. Two main conclusions are drawn from these data: (1) in the rat, up to 70 hr deprivation, the motivation to feed seems to be stronger than the motivation to drink; (2) to satisfy hunger or thirst, the nervous system uses several different motor subsystems of behavior.