Isolate housing alters ethanol sensitivity in long-sleep and short-sleep mice.

Beginning at 45 days of age, male long-sleep (LS) and short-sleep (SS) mice were placed into individual cages for 21-22 days. Control animals were group-housed for the same amount of time. At 65-66 days of age, animals were given anesthetic doses of ethanol, IP. Measures taken were sleep time, body temperature at 30 and 60 minutes postinjection and blood ethanol content (BEC) at regain of righting response. Compared to the same measures in group-housed animals, sleep times and hypothermia were attenuated in isolate-housed LS and SS mice. Isolate housing resulted in a 15% increase, compared to levels observed in group-housed animals, in BEC at regain of righting in LS; there was no significant difference in BEC in SS mice. The results indicated an isolation-related decrease in sensitivity to the anesthetic effects of ethanol in LS; the effect of isolation in SS may be an increased clearance rate of ethanol.