[Behavioral and biochemical characteristics of rats preferring ethanol or water]

A study was made of the RNA biosynthesis intensity in the brain cortex depending on the rate of the learning of the conditioned active avoidance and food reinforcement alteration responses in ethanol or water preferring rats placed in a complex maze. The level of the brain RNA biosynthesis in ethanol preferring rats was lower as compared with that in rats preferring water. In ethanol preferring rats, the rate of the learning of the conditioned active avoidance response was lower, whereas that of the learning of the alternation response was greater than in water preferring rats. The data are discussed in accordance with the concepts that disorders in the interaction of transmitter and genetic structures of brain cells form the basis of the behavior of ethanol preferring animals.