Effect of alcohol intake on some disturbances induced by chronic exposure to carbon disulphide in rats. I. Behavioural alterations.

Female white Wistar rats were exposed to CS2 vapour (0.8 mg CS2/1 air) 11 months and to 10% ethanol as the only drinking liquid for the last 3 months of exposure. Spontaneous exploratory motor activity (SEMA), open-field behaviour, passive avoidance performance and the avoidance acquisition were tested. Ethanol did not change the exploratory motor activity and behaviour of CS2-exposed rats in the open-field and passive avoidance tests but it affected their performance in the conditioned avoidance test. The analysis of data suggests that ethanol may adversely affect memory and learning ability in CS2-exposed rats.