Abstract
Iida reports that the glucose and glucurone content of the liver of Swiss albino mice is related to alcohol appetite (1). Specifically, mice with either no appetite for alcohol or free access to it showed a significant glucose content in the liver as indicated by paper-chromatographic analysis. In contrast, mice with an appetite for alcohol but without access to it showed both an absence of glucose in the liver and the presence of a material tentatively identified as glucurone. This material was either present in only trace amounts or absent in the “non-craving” and the “satisfied” mice. Iida posits that the glucose deficiency is a characteristic of mice with an inborn craving for alcohol.
McClearn and Rodgers have identified inbred strains of mice that show marked, genetically determined, highly reliable differences in alcohol preference (2-4). Iida's finding might provide an explanation for the phenotypic differences observed in these inbred strains. This possibility was examined in the present study, utilizing the C57BL/Crgl strain, that has been shown to consume 10% alcohol as its primary source of liquid when it is offered as an alternative to water, the C3H/Crgl/2 strain, that has been shown to consume either small or intermediate amounts of 10% alcohol in the choice situation, and the DBA/2Crgl strain, that almost totally avoids the 10% alcohol solution if water is also available (2-4).
