Rats bred for ethanol sensitivity: impairment of swimming by ethanol and pentobarbital

Rats selectively bred for disparate degrees of ethanol-induced depression of spontaneous locomotor activity ('most affected' = MA; 'least affected' = LA) were trained on a swim task. Undrugged rats of the MA line swam significantly faster than rats of the LA line. Ethanol, 0.0--2.25 g/kg i.p., produced dose-dependent increases in swim time in rats of the 13 generation (F13). Averaged over trials, these increases were greater in LA than in MA rats and greater in males than in females, but there was no sex difference in peak impairment. Increases in swin time were uncorrelated with predrug performance. These findings were confirmed in younger F17 rats receiving 1.75 g EtOH/kg i.p. Although the lines differed in ethanol-induced impairment, F17 males of the two lines were not differentially impaired by pentobarbital (12.5--22.5 mg/kg, i.p.). The existence of task-dependent line differences in ethanol sensitivity emphasizes the nonunitary nature of ethanol-induced 'behavioral depression.'