Browsing by Author "Haines, Kari M."

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    Analyzing the Effects of Gonadal Hormones on Alcohol Seeking and Drinking in Alcohol-Preferring P Rats
    (2024-11) Haines, Kari M.; Czachowski, Cristine; Grahame, Nicholas; Logrip, Marian; Lukkes, Jodi
    Female and male rodents have shown differences in alcohol-seeking and -drinking behaviors, with female rodents typically consuming more alcohol than male rodents. Differences in gonadal hormones may provide one explanation for these sex differences. The current study used selectively bred female and male alcohol-preferring (P) rats to assess sex differences and the possible impacts of circulating gonadal hormones on alcohol seeking and drinking in an operant appetitive/consummatory paradigm. P rats were trained in operant boxes first for water and then 20% alcohol. Rats then underwent ovariectomy (OVX), castration (CAST), or sham surgeries. After recovery from surgery, rats that underwent OVX or CAST surgery then started receiving daily subcutaneous (s.c.) injections of either estradiol benzoate (E2), testosterone (T), or vehicle (Veh) which began five days prior to additional operant testing and lasted throughout the study. Rats were given a response requirement (RR) Monday-Thursday where they had 20-minutes to meet the required lever presses which resulted in 20-minute access to alcohol. Testing occurred over three weeks which resulted in 12 days of alcohol-drinking behavior. On Fridays, rats were given a 20-minute extinction session where number of lever presses were recorded which resulted in three days of alcohol-seeking behavior. Overall, females drank more alcohol than males in both training and testing. This was seen in both Veh and Sham rats. There were no sex differences in alcohol-seeking behavior. There was no effect of E2 or T in either sex as there were no differences in alcohol intake or lever presses during extinction compared to Veh groups. There were also no sex or group differences in blood ethanol concentrations (BEC), but BEC did correlate with alcohol intake. This study is one of the first examining gonadal hormones in a selectively bred line of rat that prefers to drink alcohol and is unique in that it included both females and males in each of the treatment groups. The activational effects of gonadal hormones may have a limited impact on alcohol-related behaviors in P rats, but more research is needed to make definitive conclusions about their role.
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    Assessing initial/early aversion-resistant drinking across male and female alcohol-preferring and non-preferring rats
    (Wiley, 2025) Haines, Kari M.; Smith, Nicholle E; Czachowski, Cristine L.; Psychology, School of Science
    Background: One trait of alcohol use disorder (AUD) is continuing to drink despite negative consequences. The current study investigated initial/early aversion-resistant drinking (ARD) across selectively bred alcohol-preferring lines to assess aversion resistance with minimal ethanol history and subsequent ethanol-seeking and drinking profiles. Additionally, ARD was assessed in alcohol-preferring and non-preferring rats using a sucrose reinforcer to determine if ARD may be a genetic risk factor for AUD. Methods: Male and female alcohol-preferring rats were given four concentrations of quinine (0.03, 0.10, 0.30, and 1.00 g/L-in random order) in an ethanol solution in the homecage for 30 min daily across 12 days. Seeking and drinking were then assessed in the operant chambers. Additional groups of alcohol-preferring and non-preferring rats were given access to the same concentrations of quinine-adulterated sucrose using the same daily, random-order presentation. Results: In ethanol, all preferring lines performed similarly, showing resistance to quinine at the lowest concentration. In the homecage, high-alcohol-drinking (HAD)1 rats drank high levels of ethanol similar to alcohol-preferring (P) rats, whereas in an operant task were more similar to the HAD2 rats. In sucrose, P and HAD2 rats were shown to be aversion resistant at low concentrations of quinine compared to baseline. Overall, the non-preferring lines all demonstrated sensitivity to quinine-adulterated sucrose. Conclusions: This study demonstrates alcohol-preferring lines show similar ARD when ethanol is the reinforcer. Regarding motivated responding, P rats show high-seeking and drinking behaviors as previously observed. In the homecage, HAD1 rats drink similarly to P rats indicating that different conditions (i.e., free vs. operant access) influence drinking behaviors between these lines. Importantly, in a sucrose reinforcer, alcohol-preferring rats are more aversion-resistant than non-preferring lines, while non-preferring lines show high sensitivity to aversion, suggesting an overall tendency to demonstrate a low level of compulsive behavior.