Factors Influencing Elevated Ethanol Consumption in Adolescent Relative to Adult Rats

Abstract

The results of this experimental series demonstrate that adolescent animals consume significantly more ethanol than adult animals under a variety of home cage continuous-access circumstances, with the relatively greater intake of adolescents further magnified by a number of test conditions. Subtle experimental details often thought to be innocuous can have a substantial impact on overall amount of voluntary ethanol consumption observed in both adolescent and adult animals.