Figure 5.

Gabapentin decreases ethanol intake. A: The data reflect mean (± SEM) “ethanol lever presses” or “operant ethanol responses” (g/kg) by rats either exposed to chronic ethanol vapor (dependent rats; black bars; n = 11) or not exposed to ethanol vapor (non-dependent rats; white bars; n = 14) following pretreatment with gabapentin. Rats were tested for 30-min operant ethanol self-administration 2 hrs following removal from vapor chambers and 30 min following injection of various doses (0, 5, 10, 30, or 120 mg/kg, i.p.; all rats injected with all doses of gabapentin in a latin-square design) of gabapentin. Dependent rats consumed significantly more ethanol than non-dependent rats, an effect that was blocked by the three highest doses (10, 30, 120 mg/kg) of gabapentin. The two highest doses (30 and 120 mg/kg) of gabapentin suppressed ethanol intake in dependent rats relative to saline injection. No dose of gabapentin affected ethanol intake by non-dependent rats; * p<0.05 significant difference from vehicle (0 mg/kg gabapentin) in the same group of rats; #p<0.05 significant difference from non-dependent rats injected with the same gabapentin dose. B: Gabapentin did not alter water responding by any group of rats (Fig. 6B; p > 0.05 in all cases).