Reinstatement of ethanol seeking responding after ethanol self-administration

Understanding the processes related to resumption of alcohol-seeking behavior after a small, single exposure to alcohol could be important in treating alcoholic relapse. We used a new ethanol self-administration model to determine the potential role of ethanol self-administration in reinstatement of seeking behavior. Long-Evans rats were initiated to self-administer either 10% ethanol or 3% sucrose in a sipper procedure. This procedure required that the rat make a fixed number of lever presses to gain access to a sipper tube for 20 min. Patterns of responding and tube-licking as well as volume intakes were recorded. Both within-session and across-session extinction/reinstatement procedures were tested with a brief ethanol self-administration exposure as the reinstatement event. Self-administration of small amounts of 10% ethanol (1.3 ml) in ethanol-trained rats and small amounts of 3% sucrose (1.4 ml) in sucrose-trained rats resulted in modest reinstatement lever pressing. Although some reinstatement occurred, the amounts of lever pressing were minimal. These findings support the suggestion that self-administered ethanol in this experimental paradigm does not increase ethanol-seeking behavior.