Housing and rank status of male Long-Evans rats modify ethanol's effect on open-field behaviors.

Rationale: Psychosocial stress is known to alter behavior of rodents. While psychosocial stress may alter the response to some drugs, the response to ethanol (EtOH) has not been evaluated.

Objective: To examine open-field behaviors of triad- and singly housed rats treated acutely or voluntarily ingesting EtOH.

Method: Triad-housed rats were categorized as dominant, subdominant, or subordinate based on assessments of offensive and defensive behaviors. Open-field behaviors were monitored during a 10-min test in rats voluntarily ingesting a 6% solution of EtOH for 2 weeks (1), and after an i.p. injection of saline, 0.5 or 1.0 g kg(-1) of EtOH (2).

Results: Daily intake of EtOH was highest in subdominant and lowest in dominant rats. Overall, open-field behaviors did not differ between water- and EtOH-consuming triad- or singly housed rats. The 0.5-g kg(-1) dose of EtOH enhanced locomotor activity only in triad-housed rats, center entries primarily in singly housed rats, and head-poke behavior in dominant and singly housed rats. Rearing behavior was not altered by the 0.5-g kg(-1) dose, but in singly housed rats, rearing behavior was depressed by the 1.0-g kg(-1) dose. This larger dose of EtOH had no effect on the other behaviors.

Conclusions: EtOH's effects on open-field behaviors show behavioral specificity and vary with the subject's housing and/or rank status. EtOH's acute anxiolytic-like effect was primarily evident in singly housed rats.