Relationship between alcohol motivation and ethanol sensitivity and blood and brain catecholamine content in the progeny of rats preferring and nonpreferring alcohol.

A system of neurochemical signs indicating predisposition to high ethanol consumption is formed in the third generation descendants of ethanol-preferring male rats. Risk-group males are detected (with 95% probability) by the content of dopamine and norepinephrine and their ratio in the brain. Alcohol motivation depends on blood epinephrine content reflecting individual sensitivity to stress.