Manipulation of alcohol preference in C57BL/6J mice by episodes of food poisoning

Individual differences in the amount of alcohol consumed in a choice situation are found in highly inbred C57BL/6J mice. The extent to which environmental stress can modify alcohol preference was studied by coupling acute episodes of poisoning with restricted fluid availability, and recovery with free choice of drinking fluids. Addition of actinomycin D, a mycotoxin, to ordinary chow during 2-day periods produced acute episodes of nonlethal food poisoning from which the mice recovered rapidly. Consumption of a 10% alcohol solution and of water was recorded for several weeks before poisoning and for several weeks after the last episode. By varying drinking fluids available to the mice during the episodes of poisoning, long-lasting changes in alcohol preference were produced. When 10% alcohol was the sole drinking fluid available during poisoning, preference for the alcohol solution was abolished. When water was the sole fluid during poisoning, alcohol preference was increased above the already high levels established in the baseline and above a control group that was restricted to water during the treatment periods but was not poisoned. This increased alcohol preference was due to a nearly complete suppression of water intake in the posttreatment period; there was no significant increase in amount of alcohol consumed. The greatest individual differences in subsequent alcohol preference were found in the group of mice which continued to have free choice of alcohol and water during episodes of poisoning. The variety of responses to the same treatment show how environmental influences outside the experimenter's control may account for the variability found in voluntary alcohol consumption among genetically homogeneous mice.