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Query: UMLS:C0278080 (physical dependence)
 1,658 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Several psychiatric topics have been under recent investigation. Cerebral impairment is now known to occur in over half of alcoholic patients. Its improvement with abstinence and its interference with the considerable intellectual and volitional requirements needed by controlled drinking programmes point to abstinence as the necessary drinking goal when brain damage is suspected. A hereditary element to alcohol dependence has been suggested by several adoption and twin studies, but the many contradictions between research results emphasise that any genetic contribution is overshadowed by socio-cultural factors. Depression and anxiety are frequent accompaniments of alcoholism but are shown by investigations usually as results rather than causes of excessive drinking. The onset of depression with suicidal ideas secondary to alcoholism has been sensitively described, and attention drawn to its identification, potential risk, and prevention. Long-term drug treatments are little used at present, but several developments are feasible. They include an effective long-acting chemical deterrent; drugs to protect against organic damage; sobering agents; immunotherapy; chemical reversal of the neuroadaptive changes responsible for physical dependence; drugs to counteract dysphoria and craving produced by alcohol; pharmacological modification of reflex behaviour; and drugs for the abstinence syndrome and for mood disturbance that are not themselves liable to misuse of dependence. Finally, it is suggested that the syndrome of pathological intoxication is a fictitious state that should be discarded from the descriptive literature.
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PMID:Psychiatric advances in the understanding and treatment of alcohol dependence. 639 77

The importance of genotypic differences in the determination of sensitivity to ethanol, tolerance development and physical dependence susceptibility is achieving ever greater recognition. It is now generally accepted by investigators studying the biochemical and physiological bases for alcoholism that genotype can influence all these different aspects of sensitivity to the effects of ethanol. Although there is convincing evidence that susceptibility to alcoholism is inherited in man, we have no idea what it is that is inherited [2, 7, 19, 24, 31]. By examining a family history for a particular individual, we can identify individuals at familial risk for developing problems with alcohol abuse. However, environmental as well as genetic factors are important in determining who does and who does not become an alcoholic [4]. Thus, one critical need is for a genetic marker for alcoholism. Since the search for such markers in human research is both expensive and time-consuming, this has led to the use of animal models for alcoholism. Animal models are particularly helpful for genetic research since their genetics are well understood and can be specifically tooled to the task at hand. The goal of this paper is to illustrate the principal genetic methodologies that have been employed to study the human and animal pharmacogenetics of alcohol, and to identify future directions in this area.
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PMID:Pharmacogenetic strategies for studying alcohol dependence. 653 83

A major goal of pharmacogenetic research on alcoholism remains the identification of some "marker" that could predict the liability of a particular individual for a genetic susceptibility to develop alcoholism. The present paper presents evidence that the severity of withdrawal from physical dependence on ethanol varies widely among inbred strains of mice, and that withdrawal severity is negatively genetically correlated with initial sensitivity and magnitude of tolerance to ethanol hypothermia. These correlations are supported by differences in hypothermic response between replicate lines of mice genetically selected for susceptibility and resistance to ethanol withdrawal seizures. The genetic relationships reported suggest that the effects of ethanol on thermoregulation in mice may offer a predictive marker for susceptibility to ethanol physical dependence.
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PMID:Genetic correlations with ethanol withdrawal severity. 668 10

Acute ethanol administration increased methionine-enkephalin (met-enkephalin) and beta-endorphin levels in distinct areas of the rat brain, whereas chronically supplied ethanol caused a depression of met-enkephalin and beta-endorphin levels in most of the brain areas investigated. The beta-endorphin content of the intermediate/posterior lobe of the pituitary of rats and guinea pigs decreased by 70%. Withdrawal of ethanol resulted in a complete recovery of endorphin levels in brain and pituitary within two weeks. Whether the observed alterations in endorphin concentrations are causally related to the primary mechanisms underlying alcohol dependence is uncertain, since no obvious signs of physical dependence were observed in treated animals.
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PMID:Acute and chronic ethanol treatment changes endorphin levels in brain and pituitary. 677 6

An animal model of human alcoholism is presented in which animals maintain chronic overdrinking to the extent that they develop severe physical dependence. They can be induced to overdrink ethanol in situations where an alternative fluid is present as well, so that the overindulgence is elective. The environmental conditions that produce this result also can induce the overingestion of other substances, aggression, and hyperactivity. It would appear, then, that many kinds of seemingly excessive, maladaptive behavior in animals and humans can have similar environmental sources. Alcoholism may be viewed within a context of environmental conditions that can produce a variety of excesses.
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PMID:Schedule induction and overindulgence. 699 18

Tests were performed on 60 HS mice to determine preference for ethanol before and after a period of forced ethanol ingestion via a liquid diet treatment. Seizure scores measured 4, 5 and 6 h after the end of the liquid diet treatment showed that moderate degrees of physical dependence had developed. Statistical analyses revealed a significant sex difference only for the amount of ethanol consumed during the liquid diet treatment, with females drinking more than males (on a g/kg basis). Correlation analyses indicated that preference for ethanol was not related to seizure severity or to amount consumed during the liquid diet treatment. A significant drop in preference after ethanol withdrawal was observed when pre- and post-withdrawal preference ratios were compared. These findings are discussed in the context of the usefulness of preference for ethanol as a predictor of alcoholism.
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PMID:Lack of association between preference for and dependence on ethanol. 720 79

In contrast to humans, most animals will not voluntarily consume alcohol to the point of intoxication nor to the point of development of tolerance and physical dependence. Since there is good evidence for a genetic component to human alcoholism, we explore the possibility that the presence of alcohol in the environment during human evolution has contributed to this difference in behavior from that observed in lower animals. We then review the biologic basis for genetic influences on various aspects of alcohol-related behaviors in both humans and lower animals. Thus, the evidence for genetic influences on rate of alcohol metabolism, preference, central nervous system depressant effects. tolerance, and dependence are briefly reviewed. The technique of selective breeding for alcohol-related behavior is described and compared to the process of natural selection that may be occurring in the human population.
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PMID:Neurobiological and genetic aspects of the etiology of alcoholism. 722 61

Alcoholism is regarded as a multifactorial disorder, but the causes of alcoholism are poorly understood. The most important part of dealing with this widespread health and social problem is a prevention and early identification and treatment of those at risk. Therapeutic intervention should take place before development of cognitive impairment and physical dependence, otherwise treatment of developed alcoholism is notoriously unsatisfactory.
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PMID:Alcohol and the nervous system. 748 54

Although the hamster generally prefers alcohol at a level similar to that of the rat or mouse selectively bred to consume alcohol, the drinking hamster demonstrates neither physical dependence on alcohol nor elevated blood levels of alcohol, which are two typical criteria characterizing an animal model of alcoholism. The present investigation was designed to determine whether a third criterion of an animal model (i.e., consumption of high levels of alcohol in the presence of a palatable fluid, fulfilled by the P rat) would be met by the female Syrian golden hamster (Mesocricetus auratus). A standard 3-bottle preference test was undertaken in 6 female hamsters over an 11 day period, in which water was presented in one tube and, in a second tube, a v/v solution of alcohol which was increased in concentration from 3% to 50% on each day as follows: 3%, 5%, 7%, 9%, 12%, 15%, 20%, 25%, 30%, 40%, and 50%. Then each hamster was offered its individually determined, maximally preferred concentration of alcohol for 4-8 days, which was 20%, 25%, or 30% alcohol. The mean absolute intake of alcohol during this period was 17.9 +/- 1.1 g/kg per day, whereas the mean proportion of alcohol to total fluid was 0.68 +/- 0.05. Then over a 4-day interval, a solution of tomato juice, peach juice, mango juice, dextrose and a chocolate beverage (Ensure Plus), all made isocaloric to the alcohol solutions with dextrose, was placed in the third tube simultaneously with water and the individually preferred concentration of alcohol.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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PMID:Tomato juice, chocolate drink, and other fluids suppress volitional drinking of alcohol in the female Syrian golden hamster. 765 37

Alcohol is one of the most popular drugs of abuse in our society, and alcoholism is an important cause of absenteeism at work and a major health and social problem. Ethanol induces a number of effects, such as disinhibition, a feeling of general well-being, tolerance and physical dependence. Since there are no specific receptors with which ethanol interacts, it has been proposed that ethanol exerts its effects by altering the activity of a number of neuronal and neuroendocrine systems. Studies have indicated that alcohol influences the activity of the dopaminergic, serotonergic and opioidergic systems. The implication of the endogenous opioid system in mediating some of the effects of ethanol is indicated by the observations that some of the behavioral and pharmacological effects of ethanol are similar to those of the opiates. Indeed, injections of small amounts of morphine increased ethanol consumption, while the administration of naltrexone decreased ethanol consumption among rats and other experimental animals, in a number of experimental paradigms, suggesting that endogenous opioids may play an important role in controlling voluntary ethanol consumption. This paper reviews studies of the effects of ethanol on the activity of the endogenous opioid system and on the importance of endogenous opioids in controlling alcohol consumption.
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PMID:Endogenous opioids and excessive alcohol consumption. 769 May 85


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