Models of Alcohol Consumption Using the Laboratory Rat

For 50 years, since the original work by (1940 ), rats have been used in experiments to model human alcohol abuse. The use of a nonhuman species, such as the rat, to model a behavior that seems to be inherently human has been justified in terms of the relatively economical and convenient provision of large, genetically uniform subject populations, and the degree of control that is possible over such factors as housing, diet, and previous drug experience. In addition, certain physiological or pharmacological manipulations can be administered to rats that would not be possible with human subjects.