Acute treatment with trimethyltin alters alcohol self-selection

Male rats of the Long-Evans strain were divided into two equal groups of nine each and given either 7.0 mg/kg trimethyltin (TMT) or 0.9% saline by intragastric gavage. The pattern of self-selection of alcohol in concentrations of 3%--30% was examined in both groups at 21 and 150 days following the gavage. The TMT-treated rat consistently drank less alcohol than did the controls at every concentration of alcohol. This difference in alcohol intake was equally significant when the rats were tested in a food-contingent, schedule-induced polydipsia situation. Further, although the TMT-lesioned animal consumed fewer calories per day in the form of alcohol, their overall daily caloric intakes were slightly higher than those of the controls. These results are interpreted as a consequence of damage to structures of the forebrain and as part of a syndrome of behavioral and neurological pathology.