"Wired," yet intoxicated: modeling binge caffeine and alcohol co-consumption in the mouse

dc.contributor.authorFritz, Brandon M.
dc.contributor.authorCompanion, Michel
dc.contributor.authorBoehm, Stephen L.
dc.contributor.departmentDepartment of Psychology, IU School of Scienceen_US
dc.date.accessioned2016-04-07T19:36:33Z
dc.date.available2016-04-07T19:36:33Z
dc.date.issued2014-08
dc.description.abstractBACKGROUND: The combination of highly caffeinated "energy drinks" with alcohol (ethanol [EtOH]) has become popular among young adults and intoxication via such beverages has been associated with an elevated risk for harmful behaviors. However, there are discrepancies in the human literature regarding the effect of caffeine on alcohol intoxication, perhaps due to confounding factors such as personality type, expectancy, and history of exposure. Animal models of co-exposure are resistant to such issues; however, the consequences of voluntary co-consumption have been largely ignored in the animal literature. The primary goal of this work was to characterize a mouse model of binge caffeine and EtOH co-consumption employing the limited access "Drinking-in-the-Dark" (DID) paradigm. METHODS: Caffeine was added to a 20% alcohol solution via DID. Alcohol/caffeine intake, locomotor behavior, ataxia, anxiety-like behavior, and cognitive function were evaluated as a consequence of co-consumption in adult male C57BL/6J mice. RESULTS: Caffeine did not substantially alter binge alcohol intake or resultant blood EtOH concentrations (BECs), nor did it alter alcohol's anxiolytic effects on the elevated plus maze or cognitive-interfering effects in a novel object-recognition task. However, no evidence of alcohol-induced sedation was observed in co-consumption groups that instead demonstrated a highly stimulated state similar to that of caffeine alone. The addition of caffeine was also found to mitigate alcohol-induced ataxia. CONCLUSIONS: Taken together, our mouse model indicates that binge co-consumption of caffeine and alcohol produces a stimulated, less ataxic and anxious, as well as cognitively altered state; a state that could be of great public health concern. These results appear to resemble the colloquially identified "wide awake drunk" state that individuals seek via consumption of such beverages. This self-administration model therefore offers the capacity for translationally valid explorations of the neurobiological consequences of binge co-consumption to assess the public health risk of this drug combination.en_US
dc.eprint.versionAuthor's manuscripten_US
dc.identifier.citationFritz, B. M., Companion, M., & Boehm, S. L. (2014). “Wired”, yet intoxicated: Modeling binge caffeine and alcohol co-consumption in the mouse. Alcoholism, Clinical and Experimental Research, 38(8), 2269–2278. http://doi.org/10.1111/acer.12472en_US
dc.identifier.issn1530-0277en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1805/9214
dc.language.isoen_USen_US
dc.publisherWiley Blackwell (Blackwell Publishing)en_US
dc.relation.isversionof10.1111/acer.12472en_US
dc.relation.journalAlcoholism, Clinical and Experimental Researchen_US
dc.rightsPublisher Policyen_US
dc.sourcePMCen_US
dc.subjectBinge Drinkingen_US
dc.subjectpsychologyen_US
dc.subjectCaffeineen_US
dc.subjectpharmacologyen_US
dc.subjectDisease Models, Animalen_US
dc.subjectEthanolen_US
dc.subjectadministration & dosageen_US
dc.title"Wired," yet intoxicated: modeling binge caffeine and alcohol co-consumption in the mouseen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US
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