Pain sensitivity and saccharin intake in alcohol-preferring and -nonpreferring rat strains

• Published in: Physiology & behavior Vol. 59; no. 4; pp. 683 - 688
• Main Authors: Kampov-Polevoy, Alexey B., Kasheffskaya, Olga P., Overstreet, David H., Rezvani, Amir H., Viglinskaya, Irina V., Badistov, Boris A., Seredenin, Sergey B., Halikas, James A., Sinclair, J.David
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge Elsevier Inc 01-04-1996; New York, NY Elsevier
• Subjects: Alcohol Drinking - drug therapy; Alcohol Drinking - genetics; Alcohol Drinking - psychology; Alcohol-preferring and nonpreferring rats; Animals; Behavioral psychophysiology; Biological and medical sciences; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Hot plate test; Miscellaneous; Pain - genetics; Pain - psychology; Pain Measurement - drug effects; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Rats; Rats, Inbred Strains; Reaction Time - drug effects; Reaction Time - physiology; Saccharin - pharmacology; Saccharin intake; Species Specificity; Sweetening Agents - pharmacology; Taste - drug effects; Taste - genetics; Alcohol-preferring and nonpreferring rats; Saccharin intake; Hot plate test; Nociception; Ethanol; Rat; Alcoholism; Perception threshold; Rodentia; Thermal stimulus; Drinking; Psychophysics; Opioid peptide; Strain; Vertebrata; Saccharin; Mammalia; Pain; Tail flick test; Food intake; Animal; Detection threshold; Intraspecific comparison
• ISSN: 0031-9384; 1873-507X
• DOI: 10.1016/0031-9384(95)02110-8

The experiments were designed to study the association between consumption of palatable 0.1% (w/v) saccharin solution, voluntary drinking of 10% (v/v) ethanol solution, and pain sensitivity measured with the hot plate test. Rat lines that were genetically selected for high alcohol consumption (P and AA rats), alcohol-preferring Fawn Hooded (FH) rats and their F2[FH×FRL] hybrids, and the Maudsley Nonreactive strain (MNRA) had a high propensity to consume saccharin that resulted in a significant (almost twofold;
p < 0.05) increase in their daily fluid intake when saccharin was available. These strains also had lower pain thresholds in the hot plate test than did their parallel strains [NP, ANA, Maudsley Reactive (MR)]. Most alcohol-nonpreferring strains [NP, ANA, and Flinders Resistant Line (FRL)] had preference ratios for saccharin about as high as those of the alcohol-preferring rats but, unlike the high alcohol drinkers, they did not increase their total fluid intake when saccharin was available. The mean saccharin intakes of the lines were strongly correlated with their alcohol drinking during the first 5 days, whereas their latencies on the hot plate were inversely related to their change in alcohol drinking with experience. The results are consistent with an endogenous opioid mechanism being involved in alcohol drinking.