Simultaneous pair-feeding system for the administration of alcohol-containing liquid diets

We present studies in which a new, simultaneous pair-feeding system is utilized to administer alcohol-containing liquid diets to rats. In this system, consumption of an alcohol-containing diet by an animal leads to the corresponding delivery of the same amount of control diet to a control animal, which avidly consumes its diet upon presentation. Thus, circadian nutritional pairing is possible, avoiding the long period of fasting to which control animals are exposed, on a daily basis, when the diets are administered by the conventional pair-feeding system with Richter tubes. The new system does not require actual daily measurement of the diet consumed by the ethanol-fed animal and allows the conservation of the diet for prolonged periods, thus not requiring daily diet changes. The feeding system also allows the pair-feeding of more than one simultaneous control and can be adapted to a number of other fluids and to other animals species, when paired delivery of the fluid is desired.