Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research
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Alcohol. Clin. Exp. Res. · Jun 2015
Effects of acamprosate on attentional set-shifting and cellular function in the prefrontal cortex of chronic alcohol-exposed mice.
The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) inhibits impulsive and compulsive behaviors that characterize drug abuse and dependence. Acamprosate is the leading medication approved for the maintenance of abstinence, shown to reduce craving and relapse in animal models and human alcoholics. Whether acamprosate can modulate executive functions that are impaired by chronic ethanol (EtOH) exposure is unknown. Here we explored the effects of acamprosate on an attentional set-shifting task and tested whether these behavioral effects are correlated with modulation of glutamatergic synaptic transmission and intrinsic excitability of mPFC neurons. ⋯ Acamprosate improved attentional control of EtOH exposed animals, but did not alter the concurrent changes in synaptic transmission or membrane excitability of mPFC neurons, indicating that these changes are not the pharmacological targets of acamprosate in the recovery of mPFC functions affected by chronic EtOH exposure.