ENDOGENOUS CANNABINOID SYSTEM MODULATION OF THE REINFORCING PROPERTIES OF ETHANOL DURING DEPENDENCE: IMPLICATIONS FOR ALCOHOL USE DISORDERS

Alcohol use disorders (AUDs) are a significant source of health and economic cost to society within the United States. Despite this, highly efficacious treatments for AUDs remain elusive. An AUD is a chronically relapsing disorder characterized by a cycle of preoccupation/wanting of ethanol, subsequent loss in control of regulating ethanol intake, and negative affect or withdrawal during abstinence which promotes a return to ethanol seeking/consumption. Alterations in both the positive and negative aspects of ethanol reinforcement drive the progression of this cycle. The positive reinforcing aspects (euphoric and anxiolytic effects of acute consumption) predominate during the early regulated, goal-oriented intake of ethanol. As the dependence cycle progresses, the negative reinforcing properties of ethanol (withdrawal induced anxiogenesis) increasingly motivate ethanol-directed behavior. This transition to dependence in mediated by ethanol-induced alterations to the neural circuits which underlie the positive and negative aspects of reinforcement. Effective novel therapies for AUDs should thus attenuate the relative reinforcing properties of ethanol through modulating the activity of these underlying neural circuits.

Grantor dc:publisher

Wake Forest University

Year dc:date.issued

2015

Author dc:creator

• Robinson, Stacey L.

• alcohol use disorder

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10339/57432

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:wakespace.lib.wfu.edu:10339/57432