Development of an ethanol model using social insects: II. Effect of Antabuse on consumatory responses and learned behavior of the honey bee (Apis mellifera L.)

The ability of Antabuse (disulfiram) to influence ethanol consumption and learning in harnessed honey bees was investigated. In the first series of experiments a factorial design was used with 5 levels of ethanol concentration (0%, 1%, 5%, 10%, 20%), 4 doses of Antabuse (0, 37 microg/g, 3.7 microg/g, .37 microg/g), and 2 testing intervals (1 min., 10 min.). Animals were fed a single 1 microl dose of Antabuse and contact time with an ethanol solution measured. A second series of experiments investigated the influence of Antabuse on the formation of Pavlovian conditioning of the proboscis extension reflex. A factorial design was used with two levels of training (paired, unpaired), three levels of ethanol (0%, 1%, 5%), and 2 levels of pretreatment (distilled water, 3.7 microg/g). Analysis of the consumption experiments indicate that pretreatment with Antabuse reduces ethanol intake, although there was substantial variability. The findings of the Pavlovian experiments suggest that pretreatment with Antabuse significantly reduced responding to a CS signaling the availability of ethanol.