Repeated withdrawal from ethanol on radial arm acquisition in rats

Male rats were treated with ethanol (8.0-12.0 g/kg/day) for four 2 week periods interrupted every 2 weeks by a 2 week period of no drug treatment. Thus they experienced withdrawal from ethanol four times. Other rats were treated with ethanol for 8 weeks with no interruptions, to control for the total dose and duration of drug treatment. Acquisition of an eight-arm radial maze response when daily ethanol treatment was ended, was not affected by either the experience of four withdrawals from ethanol or by 8 weeks of ethanol treatment. The lack of withdrawal-induced impairment can be attributed to a lack of sensitivity in the maze task to possible withdrawal-induced deficits and to an insufficient duration of ethanol dependence.