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Attenuated conditioned taste aversion for sucrose in female mice with a history of chronic low-dose ethanol exposure
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Attenuated conditioned taste aversion for sucrose in female mice with a history of chronic low-dose ethanol exposure

Christina M Curran-Alfaro, Christine M Side, Ankith Alluri, Wesley Corey, Conor Sheehan and Jacqueline M Barker
Learning & memory (Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.), v 33(8-9), a054268
Aug 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1101/lm.054268.126
PMID: 42754403
url
https://doi.org/10.1101/lm.054268.126View
Published, Version of Record (VoR) Open

Abstract

Animals Avoidance Learning - drug effects Central Nervous System Depressants - pharmacology Choice Behavior - drug effects Conditioning, Classical - drug effects Dose-Response Relationship, Drug Ethanol - administration & dosage Ethanol - pharmacology Female Lithium Chloride - pharmacology Male Mice Mice, Inbred C57BL Sucrose - administration & dosage Taste - drug effects
It is becoming increasingly clear that chronic exposure to lower levels of ethanol impacts learning and behavior. To determine the effect of chronic low-dose ethanol exposure on sensitivity to changes in stimulus value, a conditioned taste aversion procedure was used. Adult male and female mice underwent a sucrose two bottle-choice drinking paradigm. Each day, mice received an injection of either low-dose ethanol (0.5 g/kg) or saline 1 h after sucrose access for 20 days. This was followed by a lithium chloride (LiCl)-induced conditioned taste aversion (CTA) paradigm in which 0.15M LiCl or vehicle injection was administered immediately after sucrose consumption for three days. On the fourth day, changes in sucrose consumption were analyzed. Chronic exposure to low-dose ethanol did not affect sucrose consumption in either female or male mice during two-bottle choice. In female mice, a history of chronic low-dose ethanol exposure blocked the development of LiCl-induced CTA. A history of chronic low-dose ethanol did not impact LiCl-induced CTA in male mice as both ethanol-naive and -exposed male mice who underwent LiCl pairing reduced sucrose consumption. This suggests that low-dose ethanol altered aversion-related behavior in female mice, which may have implications for development of aberrant reward seeking.

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