Alcohol Consumption and Its Circadian Distribution in Mice

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Abstract
The lack of animal models of diseases associated with chronic alcoholism may be due to consumption of inadequate amounts of alcohol, uneven circadian distribution, or both. Therefore, two methods of forced alcohol feeding were investigated: aqueous ethanol solutions as the only drinking fluid and incorporation of ethanol into liquid diets. It was demonstrated that feeding 10 to 25% aqueous ethanol solutions resulted in consumption of maximally 23% of ethanol-derived calories and a mean of 0.4 ml absolute ethanol/mouse per day during the first month with a gradual increase to approximately 0.65 ml during the subsequent two months. Lick count determinations with a timed, cumulative digital printer demonstrated that 65 to 75% of the ethanol was consumed during the night hours. Liquid diets containing from 25 to 35% of ethanol-derived calories were well tolerated. The daily ethanol consumption ranged from approximately 0.7 to 1.05 ml/mouse and was almost equally distributed between nighttime and daytime. Liquid diets containing 45 to 60% of ethanol-derived calories resulted in decreased caloric consumption, weight loss, and death within 18 days irrespective of the ethanol concentration (22 to 11%). Incorporation of ethanol into liquid diets, rather than into water, permits greater alcohol consumption with nearly equal circadian distribution. The even circadian distribution of liquid consumption is primarily a result of the dilution of calories/volume diet.