Reduced ethanol consumption by mice treated orally with arachidonic acid alone or in combination with the benign yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

aimsThe goal of this study was to determine the effect of administering arachidonic acid (ARA) with or without the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, on voluntary ethanol consumption by mice.

methodsEthanol consumption was measured using a continuous access two-bottle choice experiment with water and 15% ethanol (vol/vol). Ethanol naïve C57BL/6J mice were orally inoculated with ARA (or acidic PBS as the control), S. cerevisiae, or both each evening for three evenings. Ethanol consumption and preference were measured on the following days. In additional experiments, male and female mice underwent chronic intermittent exposure to ethanol vapor. After a 2-week exposure protocol, these mice were given access to 15% ethanol (vol/vol) via a two-bottle choice and inoculated nightly with ARA and S. cerevisiae (or acidic PBS and mock as the control). RESULTS AND

conclusionsAdministration of ARA initially reduced ethanol preference and consumption by ethanol naïve female mice but the effects waned. In contrast, administration of ARA together with a fungus had a sustained effect that reduced preference and consumption. The effects of ARA and fungi were statistically significantly different from ARA alone on Day 3 of ethanol access. Chronically exposed mice that showed low initial consumption of ethanol in the two-bottle choice maintained low consumption when administered ARA and S. cerevisiae. These findings support the future development of a therapeutic regimen utilizing ARA and yeast, or targeting eicosanoids, that could be developed as a supplement to current approaches to reduce ethanol consumption.