Rationale

The relationship between age, ethanol intake, and the hedonic value of ethanol is key to understanding the motivation to consume ethanol.

Objective

It is uncertain whether ethanol drinking during adolescence changes ethanol’s hedonic value into adulthood.

Methods

The current study compared voluntary intermittent ethanol consumption (IAE; 2-bottle choice; 20%v/v) among adolescent and adult Long-Evans rats to examine the effects of age and IAE on taste reactivity in adulthood. For taste reactivity, orally infused fluids included water, ethanol (5, 20, and 40%v/v), and sucrose (0.01, 0.1, 1M).

Results

IAE results indicate that adolescents drank more ethanol during IAE but had a lower rate of change in ethanol consumption across time than adults due to initially high adolescent drinking. During taste reactivity testing for ethanol, IAE rats had greater hedonic responding, less aversive responding, and a more positive relationship between hedonic responses and ethanol concentration than water-receiving control rats. Hedonic responses had positive, while aversive responses had negative relationships with ethanol concentration and total ethanol consumed during IAE. Adolescent+IAE rats displayed less hedonic and more aversive responses to ethanol than Adult+IAE rats. Sucrose responding was unrelated to ethanol consumption.

Conclusions

These results suggest that ethanol consumption influences the future hedonic and aversive value of ethanol in a way that makes ethanol more palatable with greater prior consumption. However, it appears that those drinking ethanol as adolescents may be more resistant to this palatability shift than those first drinking as adults, suggesting different mechanisms of vulnerability to consumption escalation for adolescents and adults.

中文翻译：

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青少年自愿饮酒对 Long Evans 大鼠酒精味觉反应的影响

基本原理

年龄、乙醇摄入量和乙醇的享乐价值之间的关系是了解乙醇消费动机的关键。

客观的

青春期饮酒是否会改变成年后乙醇的享乐价值尚不确定。

方法

目前的研究比较了青春期和成年 Long-Evans 大鼠的自愿间歇性乙醇消耗（IAE；2 瓶选择；20%v/v），以检查年龄和 IAE 对成年期味觉反应的影响。对于味觉反应，口服输液包括水、乙醇（5、20 和 40%v/v）和蔗糖（0.01、0.1、1M）。

结果

IAE 结果表明，青少年在 IAE 期间喝了更多的乙醇，但由于最初的青少年饮酒量很高，因此乙醇消耗量随时间的变化率低于成年人。在乙醇的味觉反应性测试中，IAE 大鼠的享乐反应更大，厌恶反应更少，并且与接受水的对照组大鼠相比，享乐反应和乙醇浓度之间的正相关关系更显着。享乐反应是积极的，而厌恶反应与乙醇浓度和 IAE 期间消耗的乙醇总量呈负相关。与成年+IAE 大鼠相比，青春期+IAE 大鼠对乙醇表现出更少的享乐和更厌恶的反应。蔗糖反应与乙醇消耗无关。

结论

这些结果表明，乙醇消费会影响乙醇的未来享乐价值和厌恶价值，从而使乙醇在更多的先前消费中更可口。然而，似乎那些在青少年时期饮用乙醇的人可能比那些在成年时首次饮酒的人更能抵抗这种适口性转变，这表明青少年和成人对消费升级的脆弱性机制不同。