An animal model of alcohol binge drinking: Chronic-intermittent ethanol administration in rodents

Abstract

Binge drinking (BD), characterized by intermittent consumption of large quantities of alcohol in short periods of time, is the main alcohol consumption pattern in adolescents and young adults. BD has serious biomedical consequences, and it is a prominent risk factor for later development of alcohol use disorders. Rodent models offer exceptional power to study these negative consequences of BD. This chapter focuses on one of these BD models: The chronic-intermittent ethanol administration (CIEA) paradigm. Essentially, CIEA consists of the administration in rats or mice of i.p. injections of ethanol (doses: 3–4 g/kg) for several consecutive days each week, in alternation with several days without injections, during several weeks. Due to our interest in the neurobehavioral effects of BD, a combination of the CIEA model with a battery of behavioral tests is described, with emphasis on the effects of alcohol BD on different kinds of memory. The CIEA model, in combination with behavioral tasks, seems to be a useful tool for studying the neurobehavioral effects of BD as well as for developing potential prevention and treatment strategies.