Aims

To support the free and open dissemination of research findings and information on alcoholism and alcohol-related problems. To encourage open access to peer-reviewed articles free for all to view.

For full versions of posted research articles readers are encouraged to email requests for "electronic reprints" (text file, PDF files, FAX copies) to the corresponding or lead author, who is highlighted in the posting.

___________________________________________

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Role of the GABAB receptor in alcohol-seeking and drinking behavior


The present paper summarizes experimental data demonstrating the reducing effect of direct agonists and positive allosteric modulators (PAMs) of the γ-aminobutyric acidB (GABAB) receptor on different alcohol-related behaviors.

Different lines of evidence indicate that direct agonists, including baclofen, effectively suppress acquisition and maintenance of alcohol drinking behavior, relapse-like drinking, and alcohol's reinforcing, rewarding, stimulating, and motivational properties in rats and mice.

More recently, the discovery of a positive allosteric modulatory binding site, together with the synthesis of in vivo effective ligands, opened a new avenue of research in GABA
B pharmacology.

Accumulating lines of evidence suggest that PAMs retain baclofen's capcity to suppress alcohol consumption and alcohol's reinforcing and motivational properties in rats; these effects occur at doses far from those producing behavioral toxicity.

Read Full Abstract

Request Reprint E-Mail: colomb@unica.it
___________________________________________________