Alcohol-hexobarbital interaction in rats under acute stress.

In male Sprague-Dawley rats, one hour stress (unilateral hindleg ligature) and 3 g/kg ethanol (oral intubation) in combination inhibited $\text{in vitro}$ liver hexobarbital (HB) metabolism to a greater extent than either treatment alone. These treatments produced analogous effects on plasma HB disappearance $\text{in vivo}$. Ethanol alone or in combination with stress also increased HB sleep time. But stress alone or with ethanol reduced the HB sleep time, results which suggest that sleep time is not a reliable index of metabolism in stressed rats. This study shows that the effects of acute stress and alcohol on HB metabolism are additive.