Alcohol metabolism in drinking and non-drinking rats.

When rats are allowed a choice between dilute alcohol and water, voluntary alcohol consumption may be used to separate them into several groups, since alcohol consumption is characteristic of the animal. Mardones and coworkers (1) have shown that the amount of alcohol consumed is partly determined by the genetic background of the rats, the number of those classified as “drinkers” having been increased considerably by selective breeding. It was of interest to determine whether differences in the rate or amount of alcohol oxidation could be detected between rats classified as “drinkers” and those classified as “non-drinkers.”