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Oxytocin administration has been reported to decrease the consumption, withdrawal, and drug-relatedness of multiple drug abuse and is therefore a promising pharmacological approach to treating substance abuse. Image credit: Pixabay
According to a study published April 16 in the open access journal PLOS Biology, led by Drs. Tunstall, Koob and Vendruscolo of the National Institutes of Health, and Drs. Kirson and Roberto from Scripps Research Institute.
The authors note that the targeting of the oxytocin system could provide new pharmaceutical interventions for the treatment of alcohol-related disorders.
The administration of oxytocin can reduce the consumption, withdrawal symptoms and addict behavior badociated with several drugs of abuse. It is promising as a pharmacological approach to treating addiction.
But most importantly, researchers need to understand how oxytocin mitigates these effects in animal models.
To answer this question, Tunstall and his colleagues tested the hypothesis that the administration of oxytocin could normalize the maladaptive brain changes that occur in alcohol dependence and thereby reduce Alcohol consumption in an established pattern of alcohol dependence in the rat.
The authors investigated the effects of oxytocin on alcohol consumption-induced dependence and modified signaling of the inhibitory neurotransmitter, GABA, in the central amygdala (CeA) – a key brain region of the affected network by the addiction to alcohol.
Experiments demonstrated that oxytocin administered systemically, intranasally or in the brain blocked excess alcohol intake in alcohol-dependent rats but not in normal rats. In addition, oxytocin blocked GABA signaling in CeA.
Taken together, these results provide evidence that oxytocin probably blocks increased alcohol consumption by altering CeA GABA transmission. These results prove that abnormalities in the oxytocin system may be at the origin of a disorder related to alcohol consumption and that the targeting of this system, possibly by intranasal administration, could be a promising treatment for people who abuse alcohol.
This article has been republished from materials provided by PLOS Biology. Note: Content may have changed for length and content. For more information, please contact the cited source.
Reference:
Tunstall BJ, Kirson D, LJ Zallar, McConnell SA, JCM Vendruscolo, Ho CP, et al. (2019) Oxytocin blocks the increased motivation for alcohol dependence and blocks the effects of alcohol on GABAergic transmission in the central amygdala. PLoS Biol 17 (4): e2006421. http://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.2006421
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