Study Associates Alcohol Advertising with Brand Preference among Underage Drinkers
Underage alcohol use is a pervasive and persistent problem in the United States and many other countries, with serious health and safety consequences, often resulting from binge drinking. Given the significant amount of alcohol advertising to which young people are exposed in virtually all types of media, scientists have sought to learn whether and how such advertising influences underage drinking. In a new study, NIAAA-supported researchers asked 2699 youth aged 16-20 about their alcohol use and alcohol brand preference as part of a long-term telephone survey of U.S. adolescents and media use. Their report shows that a majority of underage drinkers in the study identified a preference for a specific brand of alcoholic beverage, that the most-preferred brands included both distilled spirits and beer, and that brand preferences correlated with levels of brand-specific advertising expenditures. This correlation suggests that alcoholic beverage marketing efforts may be reaching and influencing underage audiences. The researchers also found that young drinkers who identified a preferred brand were also more likely to engage in binge drinking, a finding that highlights the need for further research to identify any causal connections between alcohol advertising, brand preferences, and binge drinking among underage youths.
Source: Alcohol brand preference and binge drinking among adolescents. Tanski SE, McClure AC, Jernigan DH, and Sargent JD. Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. July 2011.
-- John Bowersox
July 4, 2011
Study Examines Public Health Effects of the Minimum Legal Drinking Age
Alcohol consumption and its harms are common among young people, including those who are below the legal drinking age of 21. Some people argue that the current age-21 drinking limit in the United States is “not working,” and propose that the drinking age be lowered to 18. Researchers recently conducted economic analyses to estimate the effects of the minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) on deaths, injuries, crime, and alcohol consumption, and to identify the costs and benefits of lowering the drinking age to 18. They report that a large body of evidence shows that setting the MLDA at 21 clearly reduces alcohol consumption and its major harms. They estimate that lowering the MLDA to 18 would result in an additional 8 deaths per 100,000 person years for the 18–20 age group. Using a common estimate of the value of a statistical life of $8.72 million, this suggests that for every 100,000 young adults allowed to drink legally for a year the cost in terms of increased mortality is about $70 million. The researchers also estimate that lowering the drinking age would impose additional costs on others for crime, health care, and deaths of non-drinking drivers and passengers of at least $12 million annually for every 100,000 newly legal drinkers. These estimates suggest that each extra drink consumed as a result of lowering the MLDA would generate harms valued at more than $15 to the drinker plus at least an additional $2.63 in harms imposed on others, all in addition to the purchase price of the drink. The researchers conclude that “…the evidence strongly suggests that setting the minimum legal drinking age at 21 is better from a cost and benefit perspective than setting it at 18 and that any proposal to reduce the drinking age should face a very high burden of proof.”
Source: The minimum legal drinking age and public health. Carpenter, C and Dobkin, C. Journal of Economic Perspectives, Volume 25:(2):133-156, Spring 2011.
-- John Bowersox
June 7, 2011
Study Shows that a Specific GABA(A) Receptor Plays a Critical Role in Alcohol Intake
Recent research suggests that receptors for the neurotransmitter GABA(A) that lie outside of the synapse and which contain a molecular fragment known as a delta-subunit are sensitive to alcohol, raising the possibility that these receptors might help produce alcohol’s reinforcing effects after consuming one or a few drinks. In the current study, researchers tested the hypothesis that these extrasynaptic GABA(A) receptors in an area of the brain’s reward circuitry called the nucleus accumbens (NAc) are necessary for oral alcohol consumption. They used genetic-engineering technology to reduce expression of the GABA(A) receptor delta-subunit in adult rats in different parts of the NAc, a structure that consists of a core and a shell, which is subdivided into ventral, medial, and dorsal parts. They found that by inhibiting the delta-subunit in the medial shell region of the NAc, but not in the ventral or lateral shell or in the core, reduced the rats’ alcohol intake. In contrast, delta-subunit inhibition in the medial shell did not affect intake of a 2% sucrose solution, suggesting that the effects of GABA(A) receptor delta-subunit reduction are specific to alcohol. The findings provide strong evidence that extrasynaptic delta-subunit-containing GABA(A) receptors in the medial shell of the NAc are critical for the reinforcing effects of oral ethanol.
Source: Extrasynaptic delta-containing GABAA receptors in the nucleus accumbens dorsomedial shell contribute to alcohol intake. Nie H, Rewal M, Gill TM, Ron D, Janak PH. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2011 Mar 15;108(11):4459-64. Epub 2011 Feb 22.
-- John Bowersox
May 27, 2011
Study Highlights Importance of Positive Alcohol Responses for Future Alcohol Problems
Some people experience the initial effects of alcohol as stimulating and euphoric, while others experience mostly unpleasant sedative effects. How individuals’ immediate responses to alcohol influence their future drinking behavior has been an active area of scientific research. One theory holds that people who have a low level of positive response to alcohol and who also are less sensitive to internal cues and warning signs to stop drinking, are more likely to drink to excess and develop alcohol problems. However, this low-level response theory has been contradicted by studies which suggest that people who drink heavily experience greater alcohol-induced positive effects. To help resolve these issues, scientists investigated the acute effects of alcohol among nearly 200 young adults who were divided into groups of heavy and light drinkers based on their drinking histories. In three separate testing sessions, the subjects received one of three drinks: a placebo, a low dose of alcohol, or a high dose of alcohol. A flavoured drink mix made all of the concoctions taste the same, so none of the subjects knew what they were drinking. For the next three hours, the subjects took breath alcohol tests and answered questions that allowed the researchers to measure a variety of positive and negative effects. The scientists found that alcohol produced greater stimulant and rewarding responses and lower sedative responses among the heavy drinkers than the light drinkers. Over a 2-year follow-up period, greater positive effects and lower sedative effects after alcohol consumption predicted increased binge drinking frequency. In turn, greater frequency of binge drinking during follow-up was associated with greater likelihood of meeting diagnostic criteria for alcohol abuse and dependence. The new data could help clinicians identify and prevent unhealthy drinking habits.
Source: Rewarding, Stimulant, and Sedative Alcohol Responses and Relationship to Future Binge Drinking. King AC, de Wit H, McNamara PJ, Cao D. Archives of General Psychiatry. 2011 April 68(4):389-399.
-- John Bowersox
May 2, 2011
One Drink Per Day During Pregnancy Linked With Childhood Conduct Disorder
Alcohol use during pregnancy contributes to many problems in exposed children. Heavy prenatal alcohol exposure leads to fetal alcohol syndrome, a devastating birth defect characterized by craniofacial malformations, neurological and motor deficits, intrauterine growth retardation, learning disabilities, and behavioral and social deficits. Most women who drink alcohol during pregnancy, however, are light-to-moderate drinkers in early pregnancy and quit or decrease their alcohol use by mid-pregnancy. In this long-term study, researchers examined effects of lower levels of prenatal alcohol exposure. They specifically focused on the relation of prenatal alcohol exposure to a subsequent diagnosis of conduct disorder during childhood. Conduct disorder is a pattern of aggressive, destructive, or unlawful behavior problems. The study sample included 592 adolescents and their mothers. Women in the study were interviewed at their fourth and seventh prenatal months, and then at routine intervals post-partum until their children were 16 years old. The researchers found that children who had been exposed to an average of one or more drinks of alcohol per day in the first trimester of pregnancy were three times more likely to meet criteria for a diagnosis of conduct disorder than were adolescents whose mothers drank less than that amount or abstained.
Source: Prenatal Alcohol Exposure Is Associated With Conduct Disorder in Adolescence: Findings From a Birth Cohort. Larkby CA, Goldschmidt L, Hanusa BH, Day NL. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. 2011 March 50(3):262-2719.
-- John Bowersox
March 31, 2011
Scientists Shed New Light on Binge Drinking Pathway in Rat Brain
Episodes of heavy alcohol consumption leading to intoxication are associated with many health and safety problems, including unintentional injuries, sexual assault, domestic violence and alcohol poisoning. Previous studies have shown that brain molecules called GABAA receptors appear to play a role in excessive drinking. In a new study, researchers used an established rat model of binge drinking to investigate how GABAA receptors interact with other brain molecules to influence excessive drinking. The researchers established, for the first time, a direct connection between a molecule known as Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) and GABAA receptors. TLR4 is an innate immune system molecule that contributes to the inflammation and brain damage brought on by excessive drinking. Using gene therapy techniques, the researchers targeted TLR4 and GABAA receptors in brains of heavy-drinking rats. They found that silencing the genes for TLR4 and GABAA receptors in certain areas of the brain caused the rats to lose interest in alcohol, an effect that lasted for two weeks after the procedure. The new findings provide exciting new knowledge about the biology of binge drinking in this animal model. It is an important step in understanding brain pathways involved in excessive alcohol consumption and reveals new targets for exploring therapeutic interventions for human drinking.
Source: Binge alcohol drinking is associated with GABAA a2-regulated Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) expression in the central amygdale. Liu J, et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2011 Mar 15;108(11):4465-70.
-- John Bowersox
March 29, 2011
Frontocerebellar abnormalities may signal increased risk for alcohol problems
Brain circuits that connect the frontal lobes with the cerebellum are damaged in chronic alcoholics and may contribute to cognitive deficits in these individuals. But whether these “frontocerebellar” abnormalities are present in individuals at high risk for alcoholism before they start using alcohol is unknown. To find out, scientists led by Dr. Megan Herting at the Oregon Health and Science University conducted brain imaging studies with young people whose positive family history for alcoholism put them at high risk for the disease. Using two different brain imaging techniques -- functional connectivity magnetic resonance imaging and diffusion tensor imaging – the researchers found that family history positive adolescents who had never used alcohol had fewer functional connections between areas of the prefrontal cortex and the cerebellum than did youth with no family history for alcoholism. The researchers also found that the reduction in functional connectivity was associated with reduced white matter structural integrity in other parts of the frontocerebellar circuitry. Taken together, the findings suggest that frontocerebellar abnormalities may be a biological marker of risk for alcohol use disorders.
Source: Altered fronto-cerebellar connectivity in alcohol-naïve youth with a family history of alcoholism. Herting MM, Fair D, Nagel BJ. Neuroimage. 2011 Feb 14;54(4):2582-9. Epub 2010 Oct 21.
-- John Bowersox
January 31, 2011
Heavy Alcohol Consumption During Adolescence Compromises Hippocampal Development
Binge drinking is common during adolescence, a period of rapid brain development. In this study, researchers used adolescent nonhuman primates to examine the effects of long-term binge alcohol consumption on brain development. They found that an 11-month period of heavy binge alcohol consumption by nonhuman primates led to a significant and persistent reduction in neurogenesis – the birth and maturation of new neurons – in the hippocampus, a brain region involved in learning and memory formation. Alcohol specifically interfered with the division and migration of hippocampal precursor cells. The lasting reduction in hippocampal neurogenesis was paralleled by an increase in neural degeneration. The findings demonstrate that hippocampal development during adolescence is highly vulnerable to alcohol, and suggests that alcohol-induced hippocampal degeneration is one of several factors that may increase the vulnerability to alcohol use disorders.
Source: Long-lasting reduction in hippocampal neurogenesis by alcohol consumption in adolescent nonhuman primates. Taffe MA, Kotzebue RW, Crean RD, Crawford EF, Edwards S, and Mandyam CD. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010 Jun 15;107(24):11104-9. Epub 2010 Jun 1.
-- John Bowersox
September 17, 2010
Low Concentrations of Alcohol Inhibit Prenatal Development of Hippocampal Neurons
The learning and memory disabilities associated with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) are due, in part, to hippocampal damage caused by ethanol exposure during prenatal development. However, the mechanism by which alcohol damages the developing hippocampus remains poorly understood. In the current study, researchers examined how ethanol exposure in neonatal rats – a period that is developmentally equivalent to the third trimester of pregnancy in humans -- affects neuronal activities in the hippocampus. They report that in vivo and in vitro ethanol exposure potently inhibits molecular processes that are vital for the proper function and maturation of hippocampal neurons. Most importantly, the ethanol effect reaches significance at concentrations that can be achieved by a pregnant woman consuming less than a single standard drink in an hour. Although many other studies have shown effects of ethanol on synaptic function in developing neurons, the study reported here reveals the most potent effect of ethanol to date. It suggests that even low amounts of alcohol consumption during pregnancy may cause irreversible effects on hippocampal neurons and contribute to FASD.
Source: Low concentrations of alcohol inhibit BDNF-dependent GABAergic plasticity via L-type Ca2+ channel inhibition in developing CA3 hippocampal pyramidal neurons. Zucca S, Valenzuela CF. J Neurosci. 2010 May 12;30(19):6776-81.
-- John Bowersox
September 17, 2010
Moderate Drinking During Pregnancy Alters Gene Expression in the Placenta
Many children adversely affected by maternal drinking during pregnancy cannot be identified early in life using current diagnostic criteria for fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD). In the current study, conducted with pregnant rats, researchers examined whether ethanol-induced alterations in placental gene expression may be useful as diagnostic indicators of maternal drinking during pregnancy and as a prognostic indicators of risk for adverse neurobehavioral outcomes in affected offspring. Analyses of more than 28,000 genes revealed that the expression of 304 known genes was altered twofold or greater in placenta from ethanol-consuming pregnant rats compared with controls. Gene expression changes involved proteins associated with central nervous system development; immunological responses; endocrine function; skeletal, cardiovascular, and cartilage development, as well as other effects. These results suggest that the expression of a sufficiently large number of placental genes is altered after moderate drinking during pregnancy to warrant more detailed investigation of the placenta as a biomarker system for maternal drinking during pregnancy and as an early indicator of FASD. Given the accessibility of placentas following child birth, the gene changes identified in this study have the potential to serve as practical biomarkers of prenatal alcohol exposure and/or predictors of FASD in offspring. In addition, the identity of these genes could inform our understanding of alcohol's effects on placental function.
Source: Effects of moderate drinking during pregnancy on placental gene expression. Rosenberg MJ, Wolff CR, El-Emawy A, Staples MC, Perrone-Bizzozero NI, and Savage DD. Alcohol. 2010 Jan 4. [Epub ahead of print]
-- John Bowersox
September 17, 2010
Web-Based Genetic Feedback Can Help Reduce Alcohol-Related Health Risks
Although genetic feedback has been evaluated as an adjunct to smoking cessation interventions, its efficacy for reducing alcohol-related risks is unknown. The current study evaluated the feasibility, acceptability, and efficacy of a web-based alcohol intervention incorporating genetic feedback and risk information specific to ALDH2 genotype. The ALDH2*2 variant is associated with partial protection against alcohol dependence but confers significantly increased risk for alcohol-related cancers as a function of alcohol exposure. Two hundred Asian-American young adults were randomly assigned to receive web-based personalized genetic feedback or attention-control feedback. Genetic feedback included health risk information specific to alcohol-related cancer or alcohol dependence, depending on genotype. Genetic feedback and risk information resulted in significant reductions in 30-day drinking frequency and quantity among participants with the ALDH2*1/*2 genotype. Genetic feedback was rated highly by participants and also showed some effects on theoretical correlates of behavior change. Results provide initial evidence of the feasibility, acceptability, and brief efficacy of web-based genetic feedback for reducing alcohol-related health risks associated with the ALDH2 genotype. Results also highlight the utility of targeting preventive interventions based on genetically-related risk and protective factors and specific environmental exposures.
Source: Evaluation of a brief web-based genetic feedback intervention for reducing alcohol-related health risks associated with ALDH2. Hendershot CS, Otto JM, Collins SE, Liang T, and Wall TL. Ann Behav Med. 2010 Aug;40(1):77-88.
-- John Bowersox
September 17, 2010
It's All in the Timing: College Drinking and Dating Violence Vary for Men and Women
It is no surprise that some college-age men and women drink heavily, and can be victims of dating violence as a result. But a recent study by Cynthia Stappenbeck and Kim Fromme at the University of Texas at Austin demonstrates that these behaviors can affect men and women in different ways.
The researchers recruited 2,247 incoming freshmen to complete Internet-based assessments about their drinking and dating behaviors at the end of each fall and spring semester of their first three years of college. The students answered questions designed to assess the details of any dating violence. The questionnaire also asked participants about drinking behavior, including how often they engaged in binge drinking, defined as five or more drinks for men and four or more drinks for women, and the number of times they felt drunk.
Stappenbeck and Fromme found that 19 percent of the participants experienced physical dating violence at some point during the three year assessment period. 73 percent of participants who acknowledged involvement in violent relationships were female.
The researchers discovered that men who drank most heavily during their freshmen year of college engaged in more violence in their dating relationships during that same year than men who drank less heavily. Heavy drinking, however, did not predict subsequent dating violence for men. By contrast, women who drank heavily during their sophomore year were more likely to encounter dating violence during their junior year than women who did not drink as heavily during their sophomore year.
Given these findings, Stappenbeck and Fromme recommend tailoring education and intervention programs to men and women based on when they may be most vulnerable to heavy drinking and violent relationships. For example, programs should target men before they enter college, and teach them that heavy drinking and dating violence often go hand in hand. Programs should offer men strategies to help reduce both behaviors. Women should participate in drinking prevention programs prior to beginning sophomore year. Both men and women would benefit from better information about how to establish and maintain healthy dating relationships.
Source: A longitudinal investigation of heavy drinking and physical dating violence in men and women. Stappenbeck C, Fromme K. Addictive Behaviors, 2010, Vol. 35, 479-485.
-- Shuly Babitz
June 14, 2010
Brief Counseling Sessions Reduce Harmful College Drinking
Brief counseling sessions by physicians can help college students reduce harmful alcohol use, according to a new study supported by NIAAA. Led by Michael F. Fleming, M.D., M.P.H., of the University of Wisconsin, the study is part of the ongoing College Health Intervention Projects (CHIPs) study, a randomized, controlled clinical trial conducted in five college health clinics in Wisconsin, Washington state, and Vancouver, Canada. College health service clinicians examined whether brief counseling sessions would reduce the rates of heavy alcohol use and alcohol-related harm among the nearly 1,000 heavy-drinking students enrolled in the study. After a 12 month follow-up period, alcohol consumption had reduced in the experimental group by 27.2%, compared with a 21% reduction among students in a control group. Heavy episodic drinking also declined by 26.3% in the experimental group, and 23.3% in the control group. This study adds to growing evidence that college health clinic visits are "teachable moments" during which clinicians can help address harmful alcohol use by students.
Source: Brief physician advice for heavy drinking college students: a randomized controlled trial in college health clinics. Fleming MF, Balousek SL, Grossberg PM, Mundt MP, Brown D, Wiegel JR, Zakletskaia LI, Saewyc EM. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs Volume 71(1), January 2010, 23-31.
-- Shruti Murti
April 30, 2010
Behavioral and Drug Therapy Together Help Treat Alcoholism
A new analysis has shown that combined behavioral intervention (CBI), counseling that integrates cognitive-behavioral therapy, motivational enhancement, and techniques to enhance mutual help group participation, used alone in conjunction with naltrexone, a drug approved to help treat alcoholism, can reduce drinking in alcohol-dependent individuals. In this reanalysis of data from the COMBINE Study—the largest pharmacotherapy trial for alcoholism in the United States—researchers identified clinically useful trajectories of drinking (abstainers, infrequent drinkers, frequent to infrequent drinkers, increasing to frequent drinkers, increasing-to-nearly daily drinkers, and nearly daily drinkers). In addition, researchers determined that naltrexone reduced the chance that participants would follow a nearly daily drinking trajectory, and that CBI reduced participants' chance of following an increasing to nearly daily trajectory. Combining naltrexone and CBI, however, increased the chance of membership in a trajectory with a declining frequency of any drinking over time.
Because original COMBINE analysis showed no treatment advantage for naltrexone plus CBI, the researchers believe that trajectory analysis of COMBINE data provide a more complete representation of drinking during treatment and the effects of treatments on different aspects of drinking. These results reveal that certain subgroups of individuals may benefit more from specific treatments than is apparent from summary measures of COMBINE data.
Source: Naltrexone and combined behavioral intervention effects on trajectories of drinking in the COMBINE study. Gueorguieva R, Wu R, Donovan D, Rounsaville BJ, Couper D, Krystal JH, and O'Malley SS. Drug and Alcohol Dependence Volume 107, Issues 2-3, 1 March 2010, 221-229.
-- Jo-Ann Kriebel
April 30, 2010
Young Drinkers Risk Slowing Down Brain Power
Drinking may harm adolescents' ability to concentrate and to understand spatial relationships. A recent study led by Susan Tapert at the University of California, San Diego compared the standardized test scores of 76 12 to 14 year old kids with their scores after about three years. At the three-year follow-up, 36 of the kids had begun drinking at moderate to heavy levels and 40 continued not using alcohol or other drugs. The study defined moderate to heavy drinking as drinking at least monthly and having three or more drinks at a time, or drinking less frequently, but having four or more drinks at a time. The kids in this study were consuming an average of about eight drinks per month by the time they reached the follow-up.
During the study's three-year time period, the team discovered once teens began to drink, they performed more poorly on cognitive tests than before they began drinking. Interestingly, the kinds of skills affected varied between girls and boys.
The researchers found that girls' scores on tasks requiring them to visualize and reproduce a complicated line drawing decreased after they began drinking. The researchers also found that boys' scores on tests requiring sustained attention decreased after they began drinking.
Tapert's study suggests that these behavioral effects may point toward alcohol's underlying effect on brain structure. Brain scans demonstrate that adolescent drinking can reduce the health of white matter in the brain. White matter is where brain cells communicate with each other, so damage to this area can result in slower, less efficient thinking. Reduced white matter integrity may cause girls to have difficulty understanding spatial relationships. This damage may be long-lasting since the adolescent brain is still undergoing significant developmental changes, making it especially vulnerable to alcohol's toxic effects.
Source: Initiating Moderate to Heavy Alcohol Use Predicts Changes in Neuropsychological Functioning for Adolescent Girls and Boys, Squeglia, LM, Spadoni, AD, Infante, MA, Myers, MG, & Tapert, SF, Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 2009, Vol. 23, No. 4, 715-722.
Also see: Altered white matter integrity in adolescent binge drinkers, McQueeny T, Schweinsburg BC, Schweinsburg AD, Jacobus J, Bava S, Frank LR, & Tapert SF, Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 2009, 33, 1278-1285.
-- Shuly Babitz
April 30, 2010
Study Points to NK1R Blocker as Possible Alcoholism Treatment
Neurokinin-1 receptors (NK1R) are highly expressed in brain areas involved in stress responses and drug reward. In recent years, mounting research evidence has suggested that they may help regulate important aspects of alcohol use. In a new study, researchers at the NIAAA report that a compound that blocks NK1R suppresses alcohol drinking in mice. NIAAA Clinical Director Markus Heilig, M.D., Ph.D., and colleagues from the NIAAA Laboratory of Clinical and Translational Studies also showed that mice that lack the gene for NK1R have a lower preference for alcohol than do normal mice, and score lower on measures of alcohol reward, a key aspect of its addictive effects. Taken together, the data from the new study supports further investigation of NK1R blockade as a potential treatment for alcoholism.
Source: Neurokinin-1 receptors (NK1R:s), alcohol consumption, and alcohol reward in mice. Thorsell A, Schank JR, Singley E, Hunt SP, and Heilig M. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2010 Mar;209(1):103-11.
-- John Bowersox
April 30, 2010
NPY Suppresses Stress-Induced Alcohol Relapse in Rats
Neuropeptide Y (NPY) is a naturally-occurring brain molecule that helps regulate emotional behavior, stress responses, and other functions. Much research evidence suggests that NPY also plays an important role in regulating alcohol consumption. Scientists led by NIAAA Clinical Director Markus Heilig, M.D., Ph.D., recently investigated the effect of NPY on stress-induced relapse to alcohol use. Relapse prevention is an important aspect of alcoholism treatment, and researchers who study this phenomenon often rely on animal models of relapse-like behavior. Such models usually involve training laboratory rats to obtain alcohol by pressing a lever. Later, the lever-pressing behavior is "extinguished," or unlearned, by removing the alcohol reward. Researchers then simulate alcohol relapse by exposing the animals to stress, which causes them to again seek alcohol by lever-pressing. Stress in rats is reliably induced by injections of yohimbine, a drug that causes anxiety and panic. Using this approach, Dr. Heilig and colleagues from the NIAAA Laboratory of Clinical and Translational Studies found that by injecting rats with NPY, they could suppress the relapse-like alcohol-seeking behavior brought on by yohimbine. The findings, they note, support further study of NPY as a potential treatment for alcoholism.
Source: Neuropeptide Y (NPY) suppresses yohimbine-induced reinstatement of alcohol seeking. Cippitelli A, Damadzic R, Hansson AC, Singley E, Sommer WH, Eskay R, Thorsell A, and Heilig M. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2010 Feb;208(3):417-26.
-- John Bowersox
April 30, 2010