Intermittent Two-Bottle Choice Ethanol Drinking

Intermittent access to ethanol induces high voluntary consumption in rats (Simms et al., 2008) and mice (Rosenwasser et al., 2013). We used this method to measure ethanol intake in mice with access to a bottle of 15% (v/v) ethanol and a bottle of water during 24-h drinking sessions offered every-other-day. The placement of the ethanol bottle was alternated with each drinking session to control for side preferences. Food was available ad libitum, and mice were weighed every 4 days. Consumption of 15% ethanol and water (g/kg/24h) was calculated for each mouse. Measurements of ethanol intake, preference, and total fluid intake were averaged over 3 days with different bottle positions.