Low alcohol preference among the "high alcohol preference" C57/BL10 mice; factors affecting such preference.

The effects of age, ethanol concentration and minor stress on the variation in alcohol preference of C57 strain mice were determined. In two bottle choice tests, an older population of mice contained slightly more low-preference mice than a younger population. A wide range of ethanol preference was consistently seen in young mice for 8% and 6% ethanol, but the previously reported biphasic pattern of distribution was revealed only with 8% ethanol. Very few animals showed high preference for concentrations of 10% or 12% ethanol. Moving low alcohol preference mice to a new location (but not repeated cage changing or ultrasonic noise) significantly increased the alcohol preference. Exploratory locomotor activity did not correlate with the subsequent alcohol consumption. Blood and brain alcohol concentrations showed that the differences in alcohol preference were not due to differences in metabolism of ethanol. The C57 strain mice with low preference for alcohol provides a valuable model for the study of the effects of minor stress on alcohol consumption.