Patterns of ethanol consumption in a continuous access situation: the effect of adding a sweetener to the ethanol solution.

The effect of the addition of sucrose to an ethanol solution upon daily intake patterns was examined in a continuous-access operant situation with Wistar rats. Rats were first initiated to self-administer orally a 10% ethanol (v/v) solution using the sucrose-substitution procedure in 30-min limited-access conditions. When then studied in a continuous-access operant situation (23 hr ethanol access), substantial increases in ethanol consumption were found when varying concentrations of sucrose were added to the ethanol solutions presented. This increased consumption was found to be a complex function of both an increase in the number of drinking occurrences each day and in the size of each drinking occurrence. When 2% sucrose was compared with 2% sucrose/10% ethanol, the consumption of the sweetened ethanol was greater than consumption of the sweetener alone, suggesting that the ethanol added to the ability of the solution to maintain behavior beyond that of the sucrose alone. This study supports the use of sweetened ethanol solutions for the study of ethanol drinking patterns, and as a model system for examining factors involved in the regulation of ethanol consumption.