Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research
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Alcohol. Clin. Exp. Res. · Jan 2008
Randomized Controlled TrialNaltrexone is associated with reduced drinking by alcohol dependent patients receiving antidepressants for mood and anxiety symptoms: results from VA Cooperative Study No. 425, "Naltrexone in the treatment of alcoholism".
It is not clear whether naltrexone is effective in reducing alcohol consumption among patients with clinically significant mood symptoms and whether naltrexone favorably interacts with antidepressant medications when they are co-prescribed. ⋯ Further investigation will be needed to determine whether naltrexone is efficacious among depressed alcohol dependent patients and whether naltrexone and antidepressant medications show interactive efficacy for treating alcohol dependence.
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Alcohol. Clin. Exp. Res. · Dec 2007
Persistent impairment of hippocampal neurogenesis in young adult rats following early postnatal alcohol exposure.
Prenatal alcohol exposure can cause damage to the developing fetus with outcomes including growth deficiency, facial dysmorphology, brain damage, and cognitive and behavioral deficits. Smaller brains in children with FASD have been linked both with reduced cell proliferation in the developing CNS and with apoptotic cell loss of postmitotic neurons. Prenatal alcohol exposure in rodents during the period of brain development comparable to that of the first and second trimesters of human pregnancy persistently alters adult neurogenesis. Long-term effects of alcohol exposure during the third trimester equivalent, which occurs postnatally in the rat, on adult neurogenesis have not been previously reported. The goal of this study was to examine the effect of postnatal binge-like alcohol exposure on cell proliferation and neurogenesis in hippocampal dentate gyrus during adolescence and young adulthood. ⋯ These observations suggest that early postnatal binge alcohol exposure results in long-term deficits of adult hippocampal neurogenesis, providing a potential basis for the deficits of hippocampus-dependent behaviors reported for this model.
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Alcohol. Clin. Exp. Res. · Nov 2007
Effect of DOV 102,677 on the volitional consumption of ethanol by Myers' high ethanol-preferring rat.
Inhibitors of monoamine neurotransmitter transporters are well established as antidepressants. However, the evidence that single (serotonin) or dual (serotonin-norepinephrine) neurotransmitter uptake inhibitors can treat ethanol abuse, either as a comorbidity with depression or as a separate entity, is inconsistent. Drugs that have, in addition, the ability to inhibit dopamine uptake may have an advantage in the treatment of alcohol abuse. Therefore, the inhibitor of norepinephrine, serotonin and dopamine uptake, DOV 102,677, was tested for its effects on the volitional consumption of ethanol by an ethanol-preferring rat strain. ⋯ DOV 102,677 significantly decreased the volitional consumption of ethanol with minimal alterations in the intake of food or on body weight in an ethanol-preferring rat strain, suggesting that triple reuptake inhibitors may find utility in treating alcohol abuse.
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Alcohol. Clin. Exp. Res. · Oct 2007
Randomized Controlled TrialTreatment completion in a brief motivational intervention in the emergency department: the effect of multiple interventions and therapists' behavior.
The aim of this study was to identify therapist behaviors during a brief motivational intervention (BMI) given to injured emergency department patients that predicted participant return for a second BMI session and 12-month alcohol-related outcomes. ⋯ The results of these secondary analyses show that compliance with a 2-session therapeutic intervention (BIB) predicted fewer negative alcohol-related consequences, and that therapists' supportive emotional emphasis during the first BMI session was important in predicting participants returning for the second MI session.