Alcohol is one of the most consumed substances by humans and is typically consumed with appetitive stimuli (juice, soft drinks, etc.) that may potentiate consumption. Remarkably, preclinical alcohol self-administration research is often difficult to establish. Researchers rely on alcohol-preferring strains of animals or fading alcohol in slowly to a sucrose solution for self-administration. The current study investigated the relationship between alcohol self-administration and co-presentations of saccharin. We hypothesized that saccharin would increase alcohol self-administration compared to alcohol alone. Eighteen mice were separated into two reinforcer groups: ethanol and ethanol+saccharin. During 1-hr sessions, mice could lever press on a Progressive Ratio schedule of reinforcement for access to a designated reinforcer. Sessions continued for five days at each ethanol concentration (0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, and 25%). Active lever presses, inactive lever presses, reinforcers earned, and dose were recorded and analyzed for group differences.
Thank you for sharing your work!
Thank you very much!
Really nice poster, students and Dr. Bradley! Thanks for posting it.
Thank you!