Genetic Contribution to Initial and Progressive Alcohol Intake Among Recombinant Inbred Strains of Mice.

We profiled individual differences in alcohol consumption upon initial exposure and during 5 weeks of voluntary alcohol intake in female mice from 39 BXD recombinant inbred strains and parents using the drinking in the dark (DID) method. In this paradigm, a single bottle of 20% (v/v) alcohol was presented as the sole liquid source for 2 or 4 h starting 3 h into the dark cycle. For 3 consecutive days mice had access to alcohol for 2 h followed by a 4th day of 4 h access and 3 intervening days where alcohol was not offered.