Abstracts of presentations: Abstracts 89-105

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1998
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 69 KB
• Volume: 45
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0275-2565
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1098-2345(1998)45:2<202::aid-ajp7>3.0.co;2-#

✦ Synopsis

Previous studies of human alcoholics indicate a positive correlation between preference for sweet solutions and alcohol consumption. This study attempted to extend these findings to non-human primates, correlating interindividual differences between sugar water, cranberry juice, and alcohol consumption in rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta). Subjects were 7 male adolescent monkeys, separated daily into single cages for the 2 hour procedure. There were three sequential phases in the study, during which one of the three solutions was available (sugar water, cranberry juice, and alcohol, respectively). In each phase 500 ml of one of the solutions was offered for 1 hour a day, 5 days a week for 2 weeks. The volume of solution consumed by each animal was measured and recorded daily in ml/kg body weight. Regression analyses showed positive correlations between consumption of the alcohol solution and cranberry juice (r = 0.86, p =.01), consumption of cranberry juice and sugar water (r = 0.86, p =.01), and consumption of sugar water and alcohol (r = 0.80, p =.03). These findings show that, like human alcoholics, differences in consumption of sweet solutions predicts alcohol consumption in non-human primates.