Locomotor stimulant and intoxicant properties of methanol, ethanol, tertiary butanol and pentobarbital in Long-Sleep and Short-Sleep mice.

Methanol, ethanol, t-butanol and pentobarbital all produced marked dose dependent activation of locomotor activity in Short-Sleep mice which were selectively bred for relative insensitivity to the hypnotic properties of ethanol. The locomotor activity of alcohol sensitive Long-Sleep mice was depressed in a dose dependent fashion by all four drugs. Simultaneous assessment of intoxication in a grid test indicated that all four drugs disrupted coordination, in a dose dependent manner, to a greater degree in Long-Sleep mice than in Short-Sleep mice. The line differences in response to all alcohols was greater than for pentobarbital, indicating that the previous assumption of specificity of the selection for alcohols may be a question of degree rather than a qualitative effect.