Aspirin attenuates the anxiolytic actions of ethanol

The present study examined the effect of aspirin on the anxiolytic action of ethanol. Previous research has shown that ethanol reliably produces an anxiolytic effect on rodent's plus-maze performance while aspirin has been demonstrated to attenuate several of ethanol's behavioral actions. Female Sprague-Dawley rats were given s.c. aspirin doses of 0 or 150 mg/kg, followed 30 min later by s.c. ethanol doses of 0, 1.0 or 1.6 g/kg. After 5 min, animals were tested in the elevated plus-maze. Although aspirin did not have a significant effect on anxiety-related behavior, it did attenuate the anxiolytic action of ethanol at the dose of 1.0 g/kg, but not at the 1.6 g/kg dose. Thus, aspirin by itself does not appear to possess anxiolytic actions, but does modify the anxiolytic actions of 1.0 g/kg, but not 1.6 g/kg ethanol.