At the end of the Z-VAD-FMK in vitro ethanol series, mice were given access to two bottles of water for one week. They were then given 24-h access to a bottle of water and a second bottle of water flavored with either saccharin (sweet) or quinine (bitter) for two days to test taste reactivity.
These tastants were provided in a series that was as follows: 0.03% saccharin, 0.06% saccharin, 0.015 mM quinine, and 0.03 mM quinine. Saccharin and quinine consumption was measured as the difference in bottle weights between days as gram flavored solution drank/kg mouse/24 h and preference was measured as g flavored solution drank/total solution/24 Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical h. Bottle positions were alternated daily and control bottles were included to correct for spillage. Intermittent limited-access drinking Ethanol-naïve mice were Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical individually housed in a reverse light–dark cycle room (lights off from 10 AM to 10 PM) and allowed to acclimate for two weeks. Following acclimatization, home cage water bottles were replaced with a single bottle of 20% (v/v) ethanol in water 2 h after lights off for 4 h on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, for a total of eight sessions. Bottles were weighed before and after each session and mice were weighed once per week. Baseline water consumption was measured one day before
the beginning of ethanol access by weighing a water bottle before and after a single 4-h session. Mice had ad libitum Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical access to water when ethanol was not present. Ethanol consumption (g ethanol/kg mouse/4 h) was calculated
as the difference in bottle weights before and after drinking sessions. Drinking volumes were corrected for spillage by subtracting weight lost from two control bottles Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical of 20% ethanol placed on empty cages for the duration of the Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical sessions. At the end of the eighth and last ethanol access session, 20 μl of blood was obtained from the tail vein of each mouse to measure the blood ethanol concentration (BEC). Blood samples were stored at –80°C until BECs were determined using an NAD-ADH enzymatic assay (Carnicella et al. 2009). This limited-intermittent access procedure leads to high levels of ethanol consumption (7 ± 2 g/kg/4 h) as well as high BECs (>90 mg%) in C57BL/6J mice (Neasta et al. 2010). Ethanol clearance Mice were administered 4.0 almost g/kg of ethanol i.p. and 20 μl of blood was obtained via tail vein puncture at 30, 60, 90, 120, and 180 min post-injection. BECs were determined using the NAD-ADH enzymatic assay as above. Loss of the righting reflex (LORR) To assess the hypnotic effects of ethanol, mice were administered 3.6 g/kg ethanol i.p. and checked for LORR by turning them on their backs. LORR was defined as the inability of the mouse to right itself within 30 sec. Mice were determined to have regained their righting reflex if they were able to right themselves three times within 30 sec. Duration of the LORR was recorded.