Daidzin decreases ethanol consumption in rats

In a previous study, daidzin, a constituent of an ancient Chinese herbal treatment for alcoholism, decreased home-cage ethanol consumption in laboratory Syrian golden hamsters. The present study tested the generality of daidzin's antidipsotropic effects. Rats served as subjects in a two-lever choice procedure. At one lever, responses earned 10% ethanol, flavored with saccharin. At the other lever, responses earned an isocaloric starch solution. Daidzin decreased both ethanol and starch consumption, but the decreases in ethanol intake were larger. Changes in consumption were dose dependent, and differences in ethanol and food consumption increased slightly (but significantly) as dose increased. Daidzin produced a similar pattern of decreases in lever pressing. In baseline, there was an approximately equal distribution of responses between the two levers; at the highest daidzin dose, the relative number of responses at the ethanol lever decreased to 30%. These results replicate and extend earlier findings, and they encourage further research on daidzin's capacity to decrease ethanol consumption.