Differential Expression of Ethanol‐Induced Hypothermia in Adolescent and Adult Rats Induced by Pretest Familiarization to the Handling/Injection Procedure

Abstract

Observed differences between adolescents and adults in the autonomic consequences of ethanol were dramatically influenced by whether animals were familiarized with the handling/injection process before testing. Under these circumstances, adolescents were less susceptible than adults to the impact of experimental perturbation on ethanol-induced hypothermia. These findings suggest that seemingly innocuous aspects of experimental design can influence conclusions reached on ontogenetic differences in sensitivity to ethanol, at least when indexed by ethanol-induced hypothermia.