Dietary salt and doca-salt treatments modify ethanol self-selection in rats

The effect of a salt supplemented diet on the voluntary intake of ethanol in male Wistar rats was examined in two experiments. In Experiment 1, the addition of 3% sodium chloride to the diet selectively increased the intake of moderately concentrated ethanol solutions (3 and 6%) while leaving the choice of a 12% solution unaffected. The choice and intake of water in the two former groups declined. In a second experiment four different groups of rats were offered the 3% salt supplemented diet in combination with daily injections of the synthetic salt-retaining mineralocorticoid desoxycorticosterone acetate (0.5, 1.5, and 6.0 mg/day). Ethanol intake again tended to increase in the 3 and 6% groups but in contrast to the results of Experiment 1 water intake also increased significantly. When desoxycorticosterone was administered without the salt supplemented diet, ethanol intake was significantly depressed while water intake increased. These findings indicate that a salt supplemented diet can significantly and selectively enhance the intake of moderately concentrated ethanol solutions and that while the addition of desoxycorticosterone injections to this diet has its effect primarily on water intake, these injections alone can also suppress ethanol intake indirectly by shifting the animals choice toward water and away from ethanol.