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A novel mouse home cage lickometer system reveals sex- and housing-based influences on alcohol drinking [preprint]

Petersen, Nicholas
Adank, Danielle N
Quan, Yizhen
Edwards, Caitlyn M
Taylor, Anne
Winder, Danny G
Doyle, Marie A
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UMass Chan Affiliations
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Preprint
Publication Date
2024-05-23
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Abstract

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a significant global health issue. Despite historically higher rates among men, AUD prevalence and negative alcohol-related outcomes in women are rising. Loneliness in humans has been associated with increased alcohol use, and traditional rodent drinking models involve single housing, presenting challenges for studying social enrichment. We developed LIQ PARTI (Lick Instance Quantifier with Poly-Animal RFID Tracking Integration), an open-source tool to examine home cage continuous access two-bottle choice drinking behavior in a group-housed setting, investigating the influence of sex and social isolation on ethanol consumption and bout microstructure in C57Bl/6J mice. LIQ PARTI, based on our previously developed single-housed LIQ HD system, accurately tracks drinking behavior using capacitive-based sensors and RFID technology. Group-housed female mice exhibited higher ethanol preference than males, while males displayed a unique undulating pattern of ethanol preference linked to cage changes, suggesting a potential stress-related response. Chronic ethanol intake distinctly altered bout microstructure between male and female mice, highlighting sex and social environmental influences on drinking behavior. Social isolation with the LIQ HD system amplified fluid intake and ethanol preference in both sexes, accompanied by sex- and fluid-dependent changes in bout microstructure. However, these effects largely reversed upon resocialization, indicating the plasticity of these behaviors in response to social context. Utilizing a novel group-housed home cage lickometer device, our findings illustrate the critical interplay of sex and housing conditions in voluntary alcohol drinking behaviors in C57Bl/6J mice, facilitating nuanced insights into the potential contributions to AUD etiology.

Source

Petersen N, Adank DN, Quan Y, Edwards CM, Taylor A, Winder DG, Doyle MA. A novel mouse home cage lickometer system reveals sex- and housing-based influences on alcohol drinking. bioRxiv [Preprint]. 2024 May 23:2024.05.22.595186. doi: 10.1101/2024.05.22.595186. PMID: 38826244; PMCID: PMC11142211.

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DOI
10.1101/2024.05.22.595186
PubMed ID
38826244
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Notes

This article is a preprint. Preprints are preliminary reports of work that have not been certified by peer review.

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Now published in eNeuro doi: 10.1523/ENEURO.0234-24.2024

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The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International