This study dealt with the effect on various athletic parameters, of small alcoholic dosages (.2cc of 95% alcohol per lb. of body weight, consumed nightly over a period of ten days. Adult, male athletes (ten runners and one swimmer with a mean age of 31 (SD±3.9)) who trained regularly were used as subjects. The subjects performed a battery of five tests: pull-ups, jump reach, reaction time, hand grip strength, and six minute bicycle ergometer test (1206 kpm). Heart rate response during the first and second minutes and during the fifth and sixth minutes were used as indicators of physiological response to submaximal exercise. Each subject served as his own control. Six of the subjects were tested under the control and then the experimental condition; the other five were tested in the reverse order. Pre and post-tests were administered before and after-each ten day period (experimental and control) to examine the magnitude of change. In the experimental condition each subject consumed .2cc of 95% alcohol/lb. of body weight in a 20% solution each night. Otherwise, the subjects did not alter their daily routine. During the control condition, each subject continued his daily routine for ten days without including alcohol in his diet. The post-test following the experimental condition was administered 15-24 hours after the last alcohol dosage. This delay period was chosen because it was long enough to ensure that the effects of the last drink were eliminated, but soon enough to allow any possible accumulative effect to still be present. To determine whether physical training resulted in a change in performance the magnitude of change during the control was evaluated and found to be non-significant for ail parameters except, hand grip. To determine Whether repeated testing resulted in a change in performance due to learning or other factors, the difference between pre-test scores (tests one and three) was evaluated and again found to be non-significant for all parameters except hand grip. To evaluate the possible accumulative effect on performance of ten days of alcohol consumption, the magnitude of difference between change scores (post-test minus pretest) in the experimental and control periods was analyzed. No significant differences were found in any of the performances. It was concluded that within the limits maintained in this study, the daily consumption of small doses of alcohol has no accumulative effect on physical performance as measured by reaction time, pull-ups, jump reach, hand grip strength, and heart rate response to submaximal exercise.

No description available.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Impulsivity is associated with addiction in many human studies. Delay discounting (DD) is often used to measure impulsive choice in humans and animals. In DD testing, a small immediate reward is pitted against a larger delayed reward, and relative preference is assessed. The relative contribution of ethanol to impulsivity in alcoholism is not well-understood, therefore I will test the hypothesis that ethanol exposure will increase impulsivity in High Alcohol Preferring (HAP) mice as measured in an adjusting amount DD task. Selectively bred HAP mice were exposed to ethanol and tested in DD in 3 different experiments. Experiment 1: ad lib homecage ethanol drinking for 21 days and 17 days were used to expose mice to ethanol. Additionally, mice were tested in DD while “currently drinking” vs. “abstinent”. In experiment 2, to achieve higher blood alcohol concentrations, mice were injected with 3.5 g/kg ethanol 8 times and tested before and after in DD. In both experiments 1 and 2, mice were tested at only 2 delays (0.5 sec and 10 sec), to maximize sensitivity to detect shifts in choice behavior. In experiment 3, mice responded for 8% ethanol or 0.01% saccharin at a full range of delays: 0, 1, 2, 4, and 8 sec. Experiment 1 did not reveal any impact of ethanol drinking on impulsivity. Experiment 2 revealed a strong trend of reduced impulsivity in the 10 sec delay group after ethanol injections. Experiment 3 revealed reduced impulsivity at the 8 sec delay in the group responding for ethanol, and also revealed a significant correlation between higher ethanol drinking and reduced impulsivity. These data were unexpected, and imply that the a priori hypothesis not only should be rejected, but that the opposite hypothesis may be true: ethanol decreases impulsivity, at least with high dose exposure and in responding for it as a reinforcer. This effect was similar to the effect observed in other studies with amphetamine, which consistently decreases impulsivity. Ethanol may have been exerting an amphetamine-like effect on impulsivity at the doses tested here. There is no evidence in the data generated in these studies that ethanol increases impulsivity.

No description available.

The effects of alcohol, task difficulty, and incentives on a drill press simulation were examined. On four nonconsecutive days the subject received four alcohol levels, one level per day. The levels were: 0.00%, 0.03%, 0.06%, and 0.09% blood alcohol concentration (BAC). The drill press simulation task consisted of placing a drill probe alternately between two holes in a metal plate. For every level of alcohol, each subject received eight levels of task difficulty which were varied by changing the hole size and distance between holes. Task difficulty was in units of bits of information ranging from two to nine and was derived from a portion of Welford's (1968) version of Fitts' Law. For every level of task difficulty each subject received two levels of incentive: productivity and accuracy which were enforced by monetary rewards. The subject's response was measured by hits and misses. A Hit was defined as placing the metal drill probe in either of two holes in the top metal plate of the workpiece without touching the plate. A miss was defined as a contact of the probe with the top plate. Except for the effect of alcohol on misses, there were significant main effects of alcohol, task difficulty, and incentive for both hits and misses. There were significant interactions between alcohol and task difficulty for hits, and for incentive and task difficulty for both hits and misses. / M.S.

The research reported is concerned with the effects of alcohol on a maze-based task which had been designed to incorporate independently each of the four behavioral processes described by Berliner, Angell, and Shearer in 1968. Such a design allows study of the relative effects of alcohol on various behavioral domains. This type of . comparison had not been previously accomplished in a single study. Further, if a task can be characterized according to the behavioral dimensions of which it is comprised and alcohol levels at which performance of the task is likely to occur can be postulated, regression equations might be of use in estimating performance decrements on the task under alcohol versus no-alcohol conditions without experimental manipulation. The development of such regression equations is a second aim of this experiment. Thirty-two subjects (16 of each gender) were given four different alcohol doses (0.00, 0.05, 0.07, and 0.09% BAC) coupled with four levels of maze difficulty. A Latin Square strategy was used to assign the BAC/Maze combinations. Each combination was repeated under speed and accuracy instructions. Analyses of variance showed that alcohol impaired performance on (most independent variables in each of the behavioral domains. However, comparisons of estimated percent differences in performance across the dimensions revealed that the cognitive processes were most impaired by alcohol while the perceptual processes were most resistant to alcohol effects. Analyses of variance also indicated that there were no performance effects attributable to gender but that maze difficulty and instruction generally affected performance in the expected directions. Regression equations which incorporated alcohol, instruction, and ratings of the contribution of each behavioral process were developed to predict task completion time. Gender did not enter into these equations. The predictions yielded by these equations are in agreement with the results found in the literature. Hence, they are satisfactory for use in estimating performance decrements due to alcohol on a task the behavioral components of which are known or can be measured. / Ph. D. / incomplete_metadata

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Community Medicine / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Embryonic murine neuronal networks cultured on microelectrode arrays were used to quantify acute electrophysiological effects of fluoxetine and ethanol. Spontaneously active frontal cortex cultures showed highly repeatable, dose-dependent sensitivities to both compounds. Cultures began to respond to fluoxetine at 3 µM and were shut off at 10-16 µM. EC50s mean ± S.D. for spike and burst rates were 4.1 ± 1.5 µM and 4.5 ± 1.1 µM (n=14). The fluoxetine inhibition was reversible and without effect on action potential wave shapes. Ethanol showed initial inhibition at 20 mM, with spike and burst rate EC50s at 52.0 ± 17.4 mM and 56.0 ± 17.0 mM (n=15). Ethanol concentrations above 100 -140 mM led to cessation of activity. Although ethanol did not change the shape and amplitude of action potentials, unit specific effects were found. The combined application of ethanol and fluoxetine was additive. Ethanol did not potentiate the effect of fluoxetine.

This study concerned the effect of ethanol on cardiac activity and brain respiration in chick embryos. Ethanol dosages tested ranged from 1.0 mg to 4.0 mg/g weight. Each experiment lasted at least 150 minutes. Cardiac activity in terms of total waveform energies was integrated and printed out for plotting and analysis. The embryonic heart rates were simultaneously determined from physical graph tracings. The embryonic brain respiration was measured using a differential microrespirometer. The effect of ethanol on cardiac activity was one of slight (10 to 13), but statistically significant (p<.05) rate depression. The brain slices exhibited a marked, immediate, and irreversible decrease (39 to 89%) in oxygen consumption at both ethanol dosages. The data indicated that chick embryonic brain tissues were more susceptible to alcohol effects than cardiac tissue. Therefore, the mental abnormalities seen in the offspring of alcoholic mothers may be more cerebral in nature than cardiovascular.

Alcohol use disorders are a public health issue related to adverse effects for individuals and society. A low level of response, or decreased sensitivity, to alcohol has been identified as a heritable risk factor for development of alcohol use disorders. One method for researching level of response to alcohol is through the use of rodent models, which are developed to mimic human conditions while eliminating barriers to conducting research with people. Current rodent models used to evaluate effects of ethanol on motor performance have been criticized for not being well matched to human tasks that measure level of change in body sway after alcohol consumption. This study looks at oromotor behavior as a potential alternative to gross motor performance in hopes of increasing correspondence between human and rodent measures of intoxication. To evaluate rodent oromotor performance a force transducer lickometer is used to measure several dimensions of licking behavior after administration of different concentrations of ethanol solution via gavage. Results show that force of licking is not sensitive to dose of ethanol. The total number of licks per session show dose related decreases and licking rhythm, evaluated by the length and distribution of interlick intervals, either increased or decreased for three of the four subjects. Recommendations are made for procedural modifications in order to reduce variability in data and further investigate oromotor performance and level of response to alcohol.