[The "phenomenon of ethanol preference"].

The problem of using the "phenomenon of ethanol preference" under conditions of a free choice between ethanol and water as a behavioural model of alcoholism is discussed. The methodical aspects of the model are considered: the regimen of the animals' keeping, the criteria of preference, the concentrations of ethanol solutions, the schedule of presentation of the solutions. There was shown the principal similarity between the changes in the behaviour and biological parameters of the animals preferring ethanol and the changes observed in the man suffering from chronic alcoholism.

[Possibilities for behavior correction in a learned ethanol preference in female and male white rats].

Correction of behavior of rats preferring for a long time ethanol but not water may be performed using the agents enhancing sexual activity of animals of both sexes: apomorphine (1 mg/kg), bromocriptine (1 mg/kg) and yohimbine (4 mg/kg). Normalization of behavior of the rats manifested by not only a decrease of total ethanol consumption but also by a change of alcohol preference. Bromocriptine exerted the predominant effect on females, and yohimbine on males.

[Effect of bromocriptine in experimental alcoholism in rats of both sexes].

It has been shown in experiments on intact rats that bromocriptin (1 mg/kg) produces opposite changes on the self-stimulation of the lateral hypothalamus: facilitates it in females and inhibits in males, whereas administered in a dose of 10 mg/kg inhibits it in animals of both sexes. It has been established in experiments on rats preferring ethanol to water that the drug in a dose of 1 mg/kg reduces the degree of ethanol preference only in females while the dose of ethanol consumption declines in animals of both sexes. Besides, bromocriptin decreases the rate of ethanol elimination from blood (3-fold in females, and 1.

[Self-stimulation characteristics and endogenous ethanol in rats of different sexes].

It has been shown in experiments on rats that in females, the threshold of self-stimulation of the lateral hypothalamus was 1.5-2 times higher than in males. Besides, the rate of self-stimulation with subthreshold currents was 57% higher in the estrus than in the diestrus.