Early responsiveness to stimuli paired with different stages within the state of alcohol intoxication

PAUTASSI RM; GOODY JC; SPEAR, N.E.; MOLINA J.C.,

ALCOHOLISM: CLINICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH

Wiley Interscience

Año: 2002 vol. 26 p. 644 - 654

0145-6008

<!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language:ES;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> Background: Infant rats quickly learn to avoid a sensory cue paired with alcohol as an unconditioned stimulus (US), particularly when the drug reaches peak blood concentrations. In the present studies, a tactile cue paired with the onset of alcohol intoxication preceded subsequent presentations of a gustatory CS. The goal was to address the possibility of differential conditioning as a function of varying contingencies between conditioned stimuli and the course of the toxic state. Methods: In Experiment 1 pups received sequential presentations of a salient texture (sandpaper) and a gustatory cue (saccharin) while intoxicated with a 2.5 g/kg alcohol dose or after receiving saline. Texture location tests as well as saccharin intake assessments were then performed. A third modality of assessment was defined by a saccharin intake test while pups simultaneously experienced sandpaper. In Experiment 2, alcohol mediated-conditioning was followed by similar tests as those previously described after pups were re-exposed to either the tactile CS or the alcohol US. Results: Conditioned taste aversions, due to pairing saccharin and the later stage of alcohol intoxication, were reliably established in both experiments. A common denominator across experiments was that this excitatory aversive response was dramatically inhibited whenever the association between the texture CS and the earlier stage of alcohol intoxication was activated. There were no indications of conditioned motor responses to the tactile CS that might compete with intake behavior of saccharin or distort measurement of an appetitive memory derived from pairing the texture and the earlier stage of intoxication. Conclusions: Infantile expression of an association between a taste signaling relatively aversive consequences of alcohol was eliminated by the presence of a tactile stimulus that originally had signaled the absence of aversive consequences of alcohol intoxication. The results suggest the interaction of inhibitory and excitatory conditioning involving the aversive properties of alcohol.