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Selective breeding for alcohol preference and associated responses

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Abstract

Selective breedng for high and low alcohol-drinking preference has produced rat lines useful for studying the nature of excessive alcohol-seeking behavior. Compared with the alcohol-nonpreferring line, the preferring animals exhibit heightened responsivity to the low-dose activating effects of ethanol as well as enhanced capacity for developing tolerance to the aversive, behaviorally impairing effects of ethanol. The preferring animals exhibit lower brain serotonin and dopamine neurotransmitter activity as well as differences in other neurotransmitter neuromodulator systems, compared with the alcoholnonpreferring animals.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, 46202-5124, Indianapolis, Indiana

    Ting-Kai Li & Lawrence Lumeng

  2. VAMC, 46202, Indianapolis, Indiana

    Lawrence Lumeng

  3. The Jackson Laboratory, 04609, Bar Harbor, Maine

    Donald P. Doolittle

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  1. Ting-Kai Li
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  2. Lawrence Lumeng
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  3. Donald P. Doolittle
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Li, TK., Lumeng, L. & Doolittle, D.P. Selective breeding for alcohol preference and associated responses. Behav Genet 23, 163–170 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01067421

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