Development of aversive behavior to ethanol in mice; alterability of the progression of this parameter

The rate of development of aversion to ethanol was measured by the proportion of mice highly aversive to a 3% solution at age 24 weeks. Groups of C3H mice were exposed to either 0.5% or 5.0% ethanol during gestation or age 1 to 2 weeks, and for 1 week or 3 weeks at age 15 weeks. Male subjects only were studied. At age 24 weeks the groups exposed to 0.5% ethanol during gestation or age 1 to 2 weeks had significantly lower proportions of highly aversives to 3% ethanol than controls (38% and 46% versus 83%). Groups so exposed to 5.0% ethanol at an early age were not affected, nor were any group exposed to 0.5% or 5.0% ethanol at age 15 weeks. Groups of CF1 males were provided with 5.0% sucrose (w/v) as their only liquid source for one week beginning at age 4 weeks or 12 weeks. At age 24 weeks the group pretreated at age 4 weeks had a significantly greater proportion of subjects highly aversive to 3% ethanol than controls (63% versus 13%). The group pretreated at age 12 weeks was not significantly different from controls. Thus the rate of development of aversion to ethanol can be significantly decreased by exposure to 0.5% ethanol during a sensitive period, or significantly increased by exposure to 5% sucrose during a sensitive period.