Involuntary alcohol exposure during adolescence reduces baseline drinking in adulthood.

<p>Adult drinking data from male Wistar rats previously exposed to involuntary alcohol (“alcohol injected, 2 g/kg <i>ip</i>) or voluntary alcohol drinking (four 30-min bouts of home cage drinking of sweetened 5% w/v alcohol) early in adolescence (postnatal days 27, 30, 33, 36, 39). Control animals either received saline injections or voluntary sweetened water drinking on the same adolescent treatment days. Previous exposure to involuntary binge-like alcohol during adolescence via <i>ip</i> injections (but not control injections or voluntary alcohol drinking) significantly reduced drinking of sweetened water (a), 5% w/v alcohol sweetened with 3% glucose/0.125% saccharin (left graph, b) but not when the glucose was removed (right graph, b), and 5% w/v unsweetened alcohol (c) in adulthood. Data are expressed as mean ± SEM (n = 8/group). *p<0.05 relative to all control groups.