ArticleAlcohol, clinical & experimental research2024
Sex and individual differences in the effect of chronic low-dose ethanol on behavioral strategy selection.
Article in Alcohol, clinical & experimental research, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
What it found
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- Attenuated conditioned taste aversion for sucrose in female mice with a history of chronic low-dose ethanol exposure.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Sex differences in low-dose ethanol effects on motivated behavior and limbic corticostriatal activity in mice.Alcohol, clinical & experimental research · 2026Article
- Sex Differences in Low-dose Ethanol Effects on Motivated Behavior and Limbic Corticostriatal Activity.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Positive correlation between measures of habitual responding and motivated responding in mice.Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior · 2024Article
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
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Abstract
backgroundThe development of an alcohol use disorder (AUD) involves impaired behavioral control and flexibility. Behavioral inflexibility includes an inability to shift behavior in response to changes in behavioral outcomes. Low levels of ethanol drinking may promote the formation of inflexible, habitual reward seeking, but this may depend on the timing of ethanol exposure in relation to learning. The goal of this study was to determine whether a history of low-dose ethanol exposure promoted contingency-insensitive sucrose seeking and altered behavioral strategy selection.
methodsMale and female C57BL/6J mice were trained to perform a response (lever press) for sucrose on two different reinforcement schedules: one that is thought to promote inflexible responding (random interval) and one that maintains flexible responding (variable ratio [VR]). Following instrumental training each day, mice were exposed to saline or low-dose ethanol (0.5 g/kg; i.p.) either proximal (1 h after) or distal (4 h after) to learning. Mice were then tested for sensitivity to changes in contingency in a contingency degradation test.
resultsA history of low-dose ethanol exposure shifted behavioral strategy selection, as measured by reward tracking behavior, but this depended on sex and reinforcement schedule history. Both male and female mice used different strategies depending on the reinforcement schedule, but only males exhibited ethanol-induced shifts in strategy selection. A history of low-dose ethanol exposure did not impact contingency sensitivity in males but promoted insensitivity in females specifically on the VR lever.
conclusionsFemale mice show distinct behavioral effects of repeated, low-dose ethanol exposure as compared to males, with sex differences in the use of reward tracking strategies to guide behavior. Future studies should investigate sex differences in the neural consequences of chronic low-dose ethanol exposure that may underlie behavioral changes.
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