Year: 2020
Type: review
Abstract: AIM: The purpose of this brief narrative review is to address the complexities and benefits of extending animal alcohol addiction research to the human domain, emphasizing Allostasis and Incentive Sensitization, two models that inform many pre-clinical and clinical studies. METHODS: The work reviewed includes a range of approaches, including: a) animal and human studies that target the biology of craving and compulsive consumption; b) human investigations that utilize alcohol self-administration and alcohol challenge paradigms, in some cases across 10 years; c) questionnaires that document changes in the positive and negative reinforcing effects of alcohol with increasing severity of addiction; and d) genomic structural equation modeling based on data from animal and human studies. RESULTS: Several general themes emerge from specific study findings. First, positive reinforcement is characteristic of early stage addiction and sometimes diminishes with increasing severity, consistent with both Allostasis and Incentive Sensitization. Second, evidence is less consistent for the predominance of negative reinforcement in later stages of addiction, a key tenant of Allostasis. Finally, there are important individual differences in motivation to drink at a given point in time as well as person-specific change patterns across time. CONCLUSIONS: Key constructs of addiction, like stage and reinforcement, are by necessity operationalized differently in animal and human studies. Similarly, testing the validity of addiction models requires different strategies by the two research domains. Although such differences are challenging, they are not insurmountable, and there is much to be gained in understanding and treating addiction by combining pre-clinical and clinical approaches.
Source: Alcohol and Alcoholism
Institutions: University of Iowa, Virginia Commonwealth University, University of Chicago, University of California, Los Angeles, University of Missouri, National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Universidad de Buenos Aires
Language: English
Subfield: Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
Awards: Genes, Environments & Interventions: Understanding and Addressing Alcohol Misuse, Alcohol Stimulation and Sedation in Binge Drinkers - Renewal 01, The development of alcohol misuse and related problems from adolescence to early midlife, G9000136670, Cross-species investigation of gene networks for ethanol-related behaviors, Clinical Neuroscience of Alcoholism: Integrating Neuroscience and Clinical Trials, Integrative Training in the Neurobiology of Addictive Behaviors, Guided Research Experiences and Applied Training (GREAT) in Alcohol Studies, Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism (COGA).
OpenAlex ID: W3048432190