Effects of naltrexone on the intake of ethanol and flavored solutions in rats

It has been suggested that the endogenous opioid system may mediate the intake of preferred fluids, perhaps through an attenuation of reinforcement properties causing a subsequent shift in palatability. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effects of the nonspecific opiate antagonist naltrexone on the intake of 10% ethanol, 0.1% saccharin, 0.0006% quinine, 0.4% saccharin + 10% ethanol, and 0.4% saccharin + 0.04% quinine solutions. Fluid intake was measured in male Long-Evans and Wistar rats under 24-h continuous and 30-min limited-fluid-access drinking paradigms. All rats received injections of naltrexone hydrochloride (10 mg/kg, i.p.) for 5 days after baseline intake measures and were monitored for a further 5 days (after-treatment phase). Results indicated that naltrexone did not affect intake of any solution when fluids were available over 24 h. However, under limited-access conditions, naltrexone caused a decrease in the intake of all fluids except quinine in both rat strains. On the basis of these findings, it is possible that the effects of this dose of naltrexone were not due to any true conditioning effect on the reinforcement properties of ethanol, but perhaps to some nonspecific effect of the drug, such as an alteration in palatability or an attenuation of locomotor activity. As well, due to the inconsistent results in fluid intake across drinking paradigms, the present findings do not provide evidence for an effective role for opiate mediation in ethanol intake as well as any ethanol-sweet fluid intake interactions.