Pharmacotherapy of Alcohol Use Disorders

Abstract

Therapeutic interventions to treat alcoholism have increased in number, including several pharmacotherapies. Aspects of epidemiology, gender, and psychiatric comorbidity as well as a brief overview of neurobiology are presented as an introduction. The medications used clinically for the treatment of alcoholism, disulfiram and naltrexone, approved by the Food and Drug Administration in the United States for the treatment of alcoholism and acamprosate, a medication used extensively in Europe that is currently being evaluated in the United States, are reviewed in detail. An overview of the serotonergic agents is also provided. Finally, future directions, including new medications and some clinical strategies that show promise but are not yet used extensively clinically, are mentioned.

Withdrawal from free-choice high-fat high-sugar diet induces craving only in obesity-prone animals

“…It also highlights the importance of research related to the prevention of relapse to overeating. Prevention of relapse has been the key desired outcome of novel therapies for alcoholism (Heilig and Egli 2006) due to its efficacy over methods to decrease basal alcohol consumption (Buonopane and Petrakis 2005). Therefore, OP animals experiencing withdrawal from HFHS diet are an extremely interesting and clinically relevant animal model for future study in obesity research.…”

Dual Efficacy of Delta Opioid Receptor-Selective Ligands for Ethanol Drinking and Anxiety

“…Although these drugs can be efficacious in reducing ethanol consumption, all have clinical limitations and suffer from compliance issues (Pettinati et al, 2000;Buonopane and Petrakis, 2005;Anton et al, 2006;Swift, 2007;Garbutt, 2009;Mitchell et al, 2009). One of the drugs currently in clinical trials to treat alcoholism is the neurokinin (NK1) receptor antagonist (2-chloro-phenyl)-(2-(5-pyridin-4-yl-1-(3,5-bistrifluoromethyl-benzyl)-1H-(1,2,3)triazol-4-yl)pyridin-3-yl)methanone (LY686017).…”

Alcohol use and misuse

“…Several effective pharmacotherapies to help problem drinkers 5 6 Off-label use of certain medications, such as the anticonvulsant topiramate and the serotonin 5-HT 3 receptor antagonist and antiemetic ondansetron, have shown considerable promise for the treatment of alcoholism.…”