{"title":"The Majchrowicz binge model of alcohol dependence: A valid model for comparing male and female rats","authors":"S.A. Collins, S.P. Guerin, N.N. Nawarawong, E.R. Carlson, K.R. Thompson, K. Nixon","doi":"10.1016/j.alcohol.2025.08.003","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Alcohol use disorders (AUD) among women have steadily risen over the past decade. This increase is due in part to increased rates of drinking among some populations of women, yet relatively little is known about alcohol in women. Until recently, the majority of clinical and preclinical studies investigating AUD have focused on these effects in males, including in the Majchrowicz binge model of alcohol dependence. Therefore, the objective of this study was to perform a retrospective analysis of intoxication behavior and withdrawal severity in adult male and female Sprague Dawley rats using the Majchrowicz model. Rats were gavaged intragastrically with ethanol diet every 8 h for 4 days with doses titrated based on the rat's intoxication behavior. Ten hours after the final dose of alcohol, withdrawal behavior was assessed for 17 h. Males were slightly more intoxicated behaviorally than females, which resulted in females receiving a slightly larger dose of ethanol per day. Despite these differences in intoxication behavior, similar blood ethanol concentrations (BECs) and withdrawal behaviors were observed for males and females. Altogether, these data suggest that while slight differences in intoxication and therefore dosing occur in the Majchrowicz model of alcohol dependence, the model reliably produces similar BECs and minimizes differences in withdrawal severity. This is further supported by a principal component analysis, which confirmed moderate overlap between sexes based on these parameters. Thus, this model is useful for making direct comparisons between groups, and here between sexes, where slight differences in ethanol pharmacokinetics are known to occur.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7712,"journal":{"name":"Alcohol","volume":"129 ","pages":"Pages 41-49"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9000,"publicationDate":"2025-08-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Alcohol","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S074183292500103X","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"PHARMACOLOGY & PHARMACY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Alcohol use disorders (AUD) among women have steadily risen over the past decade. This increase is due in part to increased rates of drinking among some populations of women, yet relatively little is known about alcohol in women. Until recently, the majority of clinical and preclinical studies investigating AUD have focused on these effects in males, including in the Majchrowicz binge model of alcohol dependence. Therefore, the objective of this study was to perform a retrospective analysis of intoxication behavior and withdrawal severity in adult male and female Sprague Dawley rats using the Majchrowicz model. Rats were gavaged intragastrically with ethanol diet every 8 h for 4 days with doses titrated based on the rat's intoxication behavior. Ten hours after the final dose of alcohol, withdrawal behavior was assessed for 17 h. Males were slightly more intoxicated behaviorally than females, which resulted in females receiving a slightly larger dose of ethanol per day. Despite these differences in intoxication behavior, similar blood ethanol concentrations (BECs) and withdrawal behaviors were observed for males and females. Altogether, these data suggest that while slight differences in intoxication and therefore dosing occur in the Majchrowicz model of alcohol dependence, the model reliably produces similar BECs and minimizes differences in withdrawal severity. This is further supported by a principal component analysis, which confirmed moderate overlap between sexes based on these parameters. Thus, this model is useful for making direct comparisons between groups, and here between sexes, where slight differences in ethanol pharmacokinetics are known to occur.
期刊介绍:
Alcohol is an international, peer-reviewed journal that is devoted to publishing multi-disciplinary biomedical research on all aspects of the actions or effects of alcohol on the nervous system or on other organ systems. Emphasis is given to studies into the causes and consequences of alcohol abuse and alcoholism, and biomedical aspects of diagnosis, etiology, treatment or prevention of alcohol-related health effects.
Intended for both research scientists and practicing clinicians, the journal publishes original research on the neurobiological, neurobehavioral, and pathophysiological processes associated with alcohol drinking, alcohol abuse, alcohol-seeking behavior, tolerance, dependence, withdrawal, protracted abstinence, and relapse. In addition, the journal reports studies on the effects alcohol on brain mechanisms of neuroplasticity over the life span, biological factors associated with adolescent alcohol abuse, pharmacotherapeutic strategies in the treatment of alcoholism, biological and biochemical markers of alcohol abuse and alcoholism, pathological effects of uncontrolled drinking, biomedical and molecular factors in the effects on liver, immune system, and other organ systems, and biomedical aspects of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder including mechanisms of damage, diagnosis and early detection, treatment, and prevention. Articles are published from all levels of biomedical inquiry, including the following: molecular and cellular studies of alcohol''s actions in vitro and in vivo; animal model studies of genetic, pharmacological, behavioral, developmental or pathophysiological aspects of alcohol; human studies of genetic, behavioral, cognitive, neuroimaging, or pathological aspects of alcohol drinking; clinical studies of diagnosis (including dual diagnosis), treatment, prevention, and epidemiology. The journal will publish 9 issues per year; the accepted abbreviation for Alcohol for bibliographic citation is Alcohol.