[An experimental evaluation of the behavioral characteristics in the formation of a predilection for alcohol]

A set of correlating indices has been developed to assess alcohol craving in rats who has a free access to it for 24 months. The set includes the estimation of voluntary daily alcohol intake before and after ethanol deprivation and the assessment of rats' behavior in a conflict situation and a plus-maze. The increased intake of alcohol after its deprivation has been established to correlate with a number of punished ethanol lickings in the conflict paradigm and functional locomotor asymmetry in the plus-maze.