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Citation
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Stangl BL, Vatsalya V, Zametkin MR, Cooke ME, Plawecki MH, O'Connor S, Ramchandani VA. Int. J. Neuropsychopharmacol. 2016; 20(1): 31-39. |
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Affiliation
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Section on Human Psychopharmacology, Division of Intramural Clinical and Biological Research, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Bethesda, MD vijayr@mail.nih.gov. |
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Abstract
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BACKGROUND: Self-administration is a hallmark of all addictive drugs, including alcohol. Human laboratory models of alcohol self-administration have characterized alcohol-seeking behavior, and served as surrogate measures of the effectiveness of pharmacotherapies for alcohol use disorders. Intravenous alcohol self-administration (IV-ASA) is a novel method that assess alcohol exposure driven primarily by the pharmacological response to alcohol, and may have utility in characterizing unique behavioral and personality correlates of alcohol-seeking and consumption.
METHODS: This study examined exposure-response relationships for IV-ASA, and the influence of impulsivity and alcohol expectancy, in healthy non-dependent drinkers (n=112). Participants underwent a 2.5 hour free-access IV-ASA session using the Computerized Alcohol Infusion System (CAIS). Serial subjective response measures included the Drug Effects Questionnaire (DEQ) and Alcohol Urge Questionnaire (AUQ). To characterize the motivational aspects of alcohol consumption prior to potential acute adaptation, the number of self-infusions in the first 30-min of the free-access session was used to classify participants as low- and high-responders.
RESULTS: High responders showed greater subjective responses during IV-ASA compared to low responders, reflecting robust exposure-driven hedonic responses to alcohol. High responders also reported heavier drinking patterns and lower scores for negative alcohol expectancies on the Alcohol Effects Questionnaire. High responders also showed higher measures of impulsivity on a delayed discounting task, supporting previous work associating impulsivity with greater alcohol use and problems.
CONCLUSIONS: These findings indicate that early phase measures of free-access IV-ASA are particularly sensitive to the rewarding and motivational properties of alcohol, and may provide a unique phenotypic marker of alcohol-seeking behavior.
Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of CINP 2016. This work is written by (a) US Government employee(s) and is in the public domain in the US.
Language: en |