Reproductive functions and metabolic capacity as determinants of alcohol preference in C57BL female mice.

Abstract

Mouse strain differences in preference for ethanol have been shown to be related to strain differences in capacity to metabolize ethanol. In the present study, within-strain evidence supports these previous cross-strain findings. Demands of pregnancy and subsequent maintenance of litters of different sizes, used to manipulate metabolic capacity of C57BL female mice, resulted in increased liver size, increased liquid intake, and increased alcohol intake. Larger livers retained their baseline capacity to metabolize alcohol per unit weight, so that total capacity rose as liver size increased. Voluntary ethanol ingestion was significantly related to liver weight (r = .67, p<.01) but not to total liquid intake (r = .36, p>.10).