Evidence that the selectively bred long- and short-sleep mouse lines display common narcotic reactions to many depressants.

This report challenges the notion that the long-sleep and short-sleep selectively bred mouse lines display unique narcotic reactions to alcohols. First, we found that the specific ethanol sensitivity hypothesis is not supported by the relevant literature. Second, we found that much of the ambiguity with respect to this hypothesis concerns just pentobarbital. Consequently, the major intent of this paper was to further explore what effect pentobarbital had on these two mouse lines. Additionally, we examined the effects of barbital and ethanol. Our results for each of these compounds clearly indicate that when these mouse lines can be differentiated by particular doses the long-sleep animals always displayed greater narcotic reactions. In this inquiry only one sex was employed, and testing was always initiated at the same time of day. It is our contention that many of the equivocal findings that have been reported concerning pentobarbital are due to combining data from both sexes, circadian rhythmicity, and similar procedural variables.